Revolution
by Shirou-Tenshin
Summary: Takes place after the time of the movie. Hitler's uprising may have failed, but a task still remains for the Elric brothers; the destruction of the uranium bomb that came from Amestris. Will the Elrics be able to pull it off?
1. Prologue

"Well first, we need to track down that bomb. A weapon like that shouldn't exist, no matter what world it's in…. Let's go."

Alphonse turned to his brother and nodded with a confident smile. He had a good feeling about their future here in this world, however strange and different it may be. As the brothers looked onto the distant road they traveled down, the younger brother reflected on all the differences between his world and this one. Then, he smiled awkwardly towards the drivers of the truck and noticed how many things were similar as well. Going into a reverie as the truck stumbled over rocks on the road, he remembered all the friends and loved ones he was leaving behind. The whole military for one; the Colonel, Lieutenant Hawkeye, Sheska, Havoc, Fury, Breda, Falman, Armstrong, Hughes and his family… and all the people in Dublith and Liore too. Rose and Teacher. Finally, he thought about the people he would miss the most; Granny and Winry. He regretted leaving them behind, especially Winry. She was the best friend and best family he had besides his brother. She must have been heartbroken when neither of them came back after the battle with that Eckhart woman that Edward spoke of. He felt bad for leaving her, but… he knew that no matter what, he was happier here, with his brother. No one could ever replace him. He spent two and a half years just looking for him, training hard with Teacher, and searching, just searching; hoping that one day, he and his brother would be reunited. Now that they were, he knew that no matter where they were, as long as Edward was there with him, that would be home. Suddenly, he remembered something when the truck hit another bump and snapped him out of his thoughts. Looking to his brother, he called out to him. "Hey brother, you still never told me. Now that I'm here and we have no need to find the Gate again, why are you still studying rocketry?"

"Because Al," replied Edward, "This world is different from ours. We need to have a job here, or at least some credentials so that we can have some money for food and housing. Rocketry is a pretty useful profession, even though it's not that popular. Besides Al…. we have a lead."

"A lead? What do you mean, brother? On the bomb?" asked Alphonse curiously. Edward nodded and looked him strait in the eye.

"Yes…. And after I talked to Lang before we left Munich, he mentioned an old friend of his who worked as a professor at the university in Tübingen… I think he might have some answers for us to the location of that bomb…"

"Lang did? Wow…you never told me this…and what does our lead on the bomb have to do with your rocketry?"

"You're not listening Al…the professor who is a friend of Lang's.. he's the professor of physics and mathematics. He has a big interest in rocketry and thanks to Lang's help, he put in a little word for me. I just have to keep my end of the bargain…and you can help me."

Laughing nervously, Alphonse sighed at his brother's recklessness and his quirk of acting before thinking. "Really now… and what's your side of the bargain?"

Rubbing the back of his head nervously, Edward tried to tell his brother their situation without getting him to freak out. "Well… I might have promised to make a demonstration to him and his students.." This was followed by a small laugh.

Laughing louder than his brother, Alphonse threw his arms behind his head with a grin on his face. "You never change brother, reckless as always…oh well, I guess we don't have a choice. We're going to Tübingen then?"

Edward nodded to him with a smile as they both turned their heads to watch the pasture as they drove by. It would be far, quite a few hours, before they reached Tübingen in this truck, and Al only hoped that Edward would be prepared for his demonstration in front of the students, who were all the same age as he was. And would this professor be as helpful as Lang made him out to be? Did he know where the bomb was, and what the holder was planning to do with it? Things were starting to get interesting for the brothers, and only more excitement was on the way. They had no idea of the adventure that was about to unfold on the path before them.


	2. Chapter 2

Through the ticking of the clock, all that could be heard was the furious scratching of pencil on paper as the room stood stagnant. The professor glanced around the room, a mocking, and gruff look upon his old cheeks. He surveyed the classroom as the students of his class finished a rather challenging test, little moans of frustration and agony here and there. Looking over to the corner of his eye, he spotted a young girl that sat near the far left side of his class as her head fell to the desk in defeat…or was it relief? He couldn't tell from where he stood. He glanced up at the clock once more before yelling out to his students, "Hurry it up now, class! Only ten minutes remain in the examination!" A couple more groans were heard before silence took over again.

From her seat near the edge of the class, Claire laid her head on the desk, sighing in relief that the test was finally over. She sighed impatiently at her professor when he called out the ten-minute mark. He could be a real pain sometimes, especially when his examinations were so long. Twirling her pencil in her hand, she rested her head in her other palm and waited for their professor's dismissal. When he finally did, she rose from her desk quietly, picking up her papers and handing them to the professor with a note of relief. "Thank you professor, I hope I did well on this test."

"Let's hope so, Miss Turner. You wouldn't want to disappoint me now, would you?"

"No sir, I wouldn't." She replied with a small laughter. As she left the class, she caught glances of other students who she knew hadn't done so well lower their heads in disappointment and felt their pain. She hadn't done so well on the test before either.

She picked up her books at her desk and walked out the big wooden doors of her class, turning with the full intention of walking to pick up her younger brother at school before taking him home. However, she jumped, screeching when a sudden weight fell on her shoulders. She panicked and turned to glare at her best friend who had jumped on her in a hug and was now laughing at her priceless expression. "You know, that wasn't very funny Sheska…you could have given me a heart attack!"

With a somewhat chipper tone, her friend smiled to her and replied, "Not possible! I don't think I could ever scare you that much! Besides…I bet nothing could scare you as much as that examination, right Claire?"

Folding her arms to her chest, Claire looked warily at friend. Folly on Sheska. She always knew just what to say to make herself seem like the innocent one and get the attention off herself.

"Oh! That's right! I almost forgot! Today is third Monday of the month! That means that I will get a new fortune today!" Jumping up and down, she seemed to be so pleased with this news. Sighing irritably, Claire knew how hyperactive her friend could get over those fortunes and how obsessed she was with astrology. She was the only one Claire knew that believed that gypsies were actually psychic, or that the stars knew all there needed to be known about a person's heart. Claire watched her friend's brown hair tangle in a mess as she yanked on it, crestfallen that she couldn't find her astrology book in her bag that she kept with her at all times. When she did, however, her light brown eyes lit up under her spectacles and she shifted furiously through the pages, looking for today's date to get her fortune. Just as Claire was about to open her mouth for a smart remark, Sheska held up her finger to silence her. "Ah! Not one word out of you! I know what you are going to say…"

Coughing, Sheska attempted to make an immature imitation of her friend's usual rant about her astrology. "Please Sheska! DO you know how UNscientific that IS?! It's just a bunch of fairytales to give LITTLE CHILDREN hope for a bright future WITHOUT having to work for it!"

She ended by sticking her tongue out at Claire before huffing. "Well, I don't buy that, miss scientist! I don't care what you say, I think it's a wonderful hobby to have and you will not change my mind!"

Sighing hopelessly, Claire shrugged and laughed lightly at her friend. "Wow Sheska…you are almost psychic now. Then again…I do tend to say that a lot, do I not?"

"Every time!" Sheska chided with a smug expression.

Speaking of smugness… Claire glanced around and looked quizzically at Sheska. "Hey Sheska," she began, "where are the twins?"

"HERE!!" They yelled in her ear with a cheery tone at the same time, making her nearly jump out of her knickers. Breathing heavily while clutching her heart, she stared wide-eyed as the two little daemons cackled mockingly at her expression. The twins, Anna and Lukas, were an infamous bunch of little schemers around the university campus, and good friends of both Claire and Sheska. However, they took every opportunity they could to scare the living daylights out of her. After taking a moment to recover, she pouted to the twins and pointed accusingly at them. "You little monsters! I told you to stop doing that!"

They glanced to each other smugly before looking to her, speaking in unison again. "Please Claire, you should have learned by now. We never listen to you."

Sighing, throwing her arms in the air, she exclaimed dramatically, "God in heavens! No respect I tell you!"

"MISS TURNER!!" the fray cringed as they turned to see Claire's chemistry professor, the professor of the exam she just exited. As she looked to him with a nervous look, she smiled with a slight quirk, "Yes…sir?"

"You know better than to use such blatant disrespect on school grounds, miss! You're lucky that I do not report this to your mother!"

Bowing an apology, she looked to him for forgiveness. "Yes sir, I understand… I apologize."

Grunting to her, he turned to the rest of the party. "Now! Off with you ruffians! Class has ended! Out with you now!"

The quartet squeaked as they were forced off of school grounds by the grouchy professor. The twins whispered a small, colourful insult before he turned sharply at them and the two ran off, laughing all the way. When they rejoined the two girls, Sheska spoke up, "That was some nerve, you two! I never thought you would be able to say such a thing to a professor and get away with your heads on your shoulders!"

The two gave each other a slap five and chuckled before turning back to their friends. Anna, twirled to Claire's side, cascading her blond hair around her while she batted her blue eyes to her friend. "So tell me dear, was it as bad as you thought it would be?"

With a groan, Claire buried her face in her hands and ranted on her so-called hellish examination. "I tell you, it was harder than breaking a diamond with a silver spoon! I'm just lucky I got out of there with some confidence on my shoulders…though, I'm not sure about a few others."

The other three laughed at her plight, and then Lukas, remembered something suddenly and called out to his friends and sister. "Wait! I just remembered something!"

When everyone turned to him, he continued his thought. "I just remembered… my professor is having some friend of his coming to the university tomorrow for a physics demonstration to his students who are interested in going into rocketry."

The other three looked to him in awe and then to each other before jumping around excitedly, squealing and celebrating this chance opportunity.

"Rocketry? Really? That's amazing! Whoever is skilled enough to do something like that must be incredibly smart!" exclaimed Claire.

"Yes, I know! A genius even! Imagine…I bet he must look really handsome too…" Anna giggled suggestively.

"Now now Anna, that's not a way for a young lady to talk. I'm so excited too! I wonder if they will like astrology too! That would be marvelous!" shouted Sheska, who got weird expressions from her friends when she mentioned the astrology bit.

Suddenly, the three stopped their party when they remembered one crucial factor that Lukas said to them…

"_A physics demonstration to his students…_"

Sighing, the three girls whined in disappointment. "Well, I guess there will be no demonstration for us because we aren't in physics.." said Sheska. Waving her hand at her brother, Anna continued, "Have fun at the demonstration, little brother...make sure you put in a good word for me with the demonstrator…he might be handsome."

Lukas looked to them with a questioning look on his face before asking, "What are you talking about? Your examinations are over, so you're all allowed to come. It's not exclusive to just the physics students, it's anyone who is interested."

Regaining their earlier fervor, the three girls looked to each other again, and squealed even louder than before, hugging each other and rambling on about how exciting this would be. Anna reached over, locking her brother in a bear hug, to which he laughed and begged her to let go of him. "I can't do that, little brother, who else would I have to bug at home?" she laughed.

"Come on sister, have mercy!" Lukas choked out between laughs.

Suddenly, realization dawned on Claire when she remembered something…

_Little brother…_

Gasping, she panicked, and her friends watched her warily as she flailed about, eyes wide and nervous. "I'm terribly sorry you guys, but I have to go pick up Frederic from school! Good heavens, I completely forgot! I hope he isn't angry with me! I hope mother will not be angry with me!"

Running off, she waved her hand to her friends, glancing back one more time to watch them as she headed in the direction of the high school. "I will see you all tomorrow at the rocketry demonstration! So long!"

"Claire!" shouted Lukas back to her, "It's at two o'clock tomorrow! Don't forget this time!"

"I won't!" she responded just before disappearing out of sight.

When she arrived at her brother's school, panting and out of breath, she looked around and finally spotted Frederic by one of the large trees out front, simply sitting there, waiting for her. When she ran up, she called out to him. "Frédéric! Frédéric!"

He snapped his head up when he heard her call out to him and a bright smile flashed across his face. As she ran to his side, he clung to her waist in a hug, exclaiming, "Claire!"

"Oui oui Frédéric, c'est temps d'aller à la maison maintenant… Viens, c'est déjà tars…maman va être si fâché si nous ne sommes pas là bientôt."

Nodding his head to her, he took her hand and they walked home together in tranquil silence.

They arrived home just in time, walking in and taking off their shoes before walking into the dinning room to greet their mother.

"Maman! Maman! Bonjour, maman!" Cheered Frederic excitedly as he ran over to give her a kiss.

Delighted by her cheerful son's actions, she laughed wholeheartedly to him and kissed him back. "Frédéric, mon chéri…Vous avez eu une bonne journée à l'école?"

Nodding, Frederic went on to tell his mother all about his day at school while the big sister watched from the doorframe, a sweet smile on her face whenever she saw her family so content. In these harsh times, no family in this country really got happy moments like these. After his discussion with his mother, Frederic ran into his room to do his homework while Claire advanced from her watch post to face her mother. Her face suddenly turned serious when her mother looked into her eyes.

"Claire…" Her mother spoke with a hint of remorse.

Walking to her side, Claire looked to her mother and gave her a hug before sighing exhaustedly. Her mother took her daughter's hand in hers and they stood in silence for a few minutes before the mother spoke up. "Maintenant…comment allait votre journée?"

"Bien maman…j'avais écris ma dernière examen aujourd'hui…"

"Ah…Intéressant… Tu sais autant que moi que tu dois être responsable pour votre famille, même que moi. Tu dois prendre soin de ton petit frère…Il t'admire plus que tu le sais…"

After a moment of silence, Claire buried her face in her mother's hair and nodded. "Oui maman…Je sais…et tu sais aussi que nous sommes toujours ici pour toi…Moi et Frédéric."

Claire's mother twitched before tightening her grip on her daughter's hand. She was so thankful that her daughter could understand her feelings right now and to her, it was a true blessing. Just as Claire let go of her mother, she was pulled back by her hand. She turned to see her mother looking to her with a sad smile, mouthing a small "Merci…ma chère."

Claire nodded to her before her mother let go and she walked in the other room, beginning to prepare their dinner. She had no idea that the wheel of events was already in motion and that this would be last night of normalcy, but tomorrow was a new day, no one knew what tomorrow would bring. Except maybe Sheska.


	3. Chapter 3

The next day, the four arrived at school around the same time in the afternoon. When she saw her friends, Claire smiled and waved at them before sighing. She had gotten into an argument with her brother that morning. Her mother had let it slip that she was going to see a rocketry demonstration that was held by one of the professor's at the university, and her brother had begged her to take him with her to see it. She had truly wanted to take him, she really did. However, he had school that day, and could not afford to miss it now, when he was so close to his examinations as well. At first, her mother was all for her taking him along with her, but when Claire explained things that usually happened, the possible accidents that could occur during the demonstration, her mother turned on him and demanded he go to school in her rolling French speech.

When Claire finally caught up with her friends, Anna hugged her almost instantly, welcoming her to this presentation, as if she owned it. Lukas soon followed in the hug, and when she finally managed to get them off, she turned to Sheska, who shared a simple handshake with her before they entered through the school to the courtyard in the back.

When they got there, they saw that there was already quite a large group of students there. Mostly from Lukas's class, of course. A couple waved to them and the excitement in the air was so thick; you could almost cut it with a knife. Everyone was gossiping about this demonstration and Claire jumped up and down, trying to peer through the crowd at the large-scale foundation that was set up on the grounds from which, the rockets would be launched. Her friends laughed at her failed attempts to see the establishment, as they usually did. She was always the shortest one, no matter what situation. They knew it too, and loved to rub it in her face. However, after they had their laugh, Lukas called out to her. "Hey Claire, do you need some help seeing the show? We could sneak up front, if you wanted."

Brightening up, she grinned at him. "Thank you Lukas, that would be wonderful… I wonder if we could get a place in the front… Let's try our luck."

With approval from the other two, the four quietly snuck up to the front of the crowd, bothering a few people on the way, to which they apologized. Poor Sheska almost got herself into a fight before the buffoon realized that he was about to punch a girl and stopped. When they got to the front, the group stood together and watched Lukas's professor carry in a large, heavy box and place it beside the tower. Claire glanced to Sheska and giggled when she saw how star-struck her friend was over the rocket placed in the center of the tower, She had to admit, she was quite amazed too. Looking over, she saw how the sleek style and colour of the small rocket caught the bright sunlight and reflected it sharply on her eyes, making her have to look away. She felt the adrenaline pumping through her blood, and could hardly wait. Neither could the rest of her friends, although Claire laughed when she thought about the fact that Anna was probably more interested in the demonstrator than the actual demonstration.

After many minutes of waiting, Lukas's professor stepped up and addressed the crowd that had gathered for the show. He glanced around once, seeing that no one was paying attention to him, and frowned. "Listen! You bunch of hooligans! Quiet!"

At once, everyone stood at attention and looked to the older professor. He smiled when he got their attention and spoke with a calmer voice. "Are you all ready to see this rocket being launched?!" The crowd of students gave a loud cheer that rang through the courtyard. The professor laughed wholeheartedly at this and raised his voice slightly. "Well then, I think it's time to show you all what you came here for!" More applause. "Here he is…"

From the room just inside the courtyard, Alphonse glanced outside at the large crowd from the curtain. "Wow…there's so many of them…" He didn't expect so many people to show up. He, then, looked over to his brother, who he could tell, was extremely nervous. With a worried expression, he walked over and put a hand on Edward's shoulder. "Are you alright, brother?"

Edward turned his head slowly to Alphonse, giving him the best smile he could fake at that point. "Yes Al…I'm fine…what makes you think I'm not?" In reality, Edward was deathly afraid. He found it completely stupid, after all, it was just a little demonstration, but he guessed that he would be, having to do this for a bunch of kids his age. Whenever he had done missions in Amestris, it has always been adults much older than him. This was completely different. Taking a big breath a gulping, he calmed himself down before looking to his younger brother. "How is it looking out there Al? When is it show time?"

"Now!" Alphonse said this excitement dancing in his eyes. He reached over, grabbing Edward's hand and pulling him out of the door, while Edward wore a look of confusion and nervousness on his face. "What, Al? Already? Seriously?!"

"Oh, don't be so scared brother. You'll do just fine. Besides, these people are our age, so I'm sure they will have some more sense than you think they do…and look at them! Everyone is so excited! I don't think you will have any problems. Everything has been set up properly, so you should be all good."

Edward blinked before grinning to his little brother and chuckling. "Yeah...you're right. Thanks little brother…you always do know just what to say. Already, let's go!"

As they approached the courtyard, they could hear the thunderous voice of the professor cheering to his students, who cheered back. "Show time" whispered Edward.

"Here he is, Mister Edward Elric!" just as the two brothers stepped into the courtyard, the bright sun made them cover their eyes for a moment, but when it died down, and they could get a good look at the crowd, they were awed by the number of students that had shown up. They started to get excited and walked up to the professor with confident smiles. Edward shook the professor's hand and caught a flash of emotion across the older man's face when professor realized that his arm, or at least his hand, was made of automail. The same one Winry left him before he came to this side of the Gate for good. However, this didn't seem to faze him, and he welcomed the brothers warmly. "Welcome to Tübingen, Mister Elric…we're so glad to have you here today."

"It's good to be here professor," replied Edward, "and our ends of the bargain will be held up?" he asked. The professor nodded and turned back to the students, then looked to Edward. "You should talk to them. I think they're more excited about this than I am…"

Edward nodded and turned to the student body present with a goofy grin across his face. "Hey everyone! Are you ready to see some rocket launches?!" The crowd cheered when he asked, and this gave his a feeling of authority, which he let go to his head a little. "Alright then, let's get started!"

From their place near the front of the crowd, the four watched as a short boy was pushed into the clearing by another boy, a younger brother by the looks of it. The boy looked to be about their age, maybe younger. This shocked them, and proved Anna's theory that the demonstrator was a genius. They didn't think it was possible for a man so young to be able to perform rocketry, and do it well. However, the boy had a nervous flicker behind his golden eyes and happy smile. Though, neither Claire nor Sheska could blame him. If something happened here, it would be entirely his fault; and to have that pressure hanging on your shoulders like that? After he spoke to the professor, the boy addressed the crowd with that same bright smile, "Alright then, let's get started!"

He sounded quite confident, despite his hidden anxiety, noted Claire. She watched him and the other, she assumed was his brother, walk over, enter the tower and rig the machine to take off. She observed every detail they of the process, paying close attention so that she would be able to explain it correctly to her brother when she got home. Suddenly, out of nowhere, she nearly screamed when someone suddenly tackled into her. Her eyes wide, she turned her head to see Anna attached to her shoulders, hunching over to giggle and whisper in her ear. "Wow, he IS quite handsome…and his brother too!"

She squealed sharply in Claire's ear, making her cover her poor eardrums. She hoped they weren't bleeding. She groaned at Anna's childish behaviour. Anna was such a flirt. She thought all the boys were good-looking, and she was always on the hunt. She was boy crazy, according to Sheska. However, ignoring Anna's usual boy addiction, she focused on the presentation, and saw them backing out of the tower. Realization hit her, and she turned to the others with a big smile. "Hey everyone! They're about to take off!"

As the group came to attention, they all turned to the display and watched the rocket starting to power up and heard the increasing volume of the engine. Mister Elric looked to the crowd with that same smile and urged them to count down with him. "Okay everyone, here we go! Five! Four! Three!..."

"Two! One!!" The students finished as the rocket ignited and took off with a blast. The whole crowd stood silent with awe as the small rocket shot up into the sky. Claire could hear Lukas next to her, whistling as he watched it go up and disappeared in the clouds.


	4. Chapter 4

After the show, Claire noticed that, immediately, students started leaving in groups, gossiping about the rocket and how they would love to do what Mister Elric did. Speaking of which, Claire noted, "Where did Mister Elric and his brother go?" she asked her friends. They looked over to her, shrugging their shoulders. No one knew. They had disappeared. The four walked over to Lukas's professor, who was packing some of the machinery away and Sheska asked quizzically, "Professor, do you know where the Elrics went?"

The professor looked up to them and let out a ringing laughter, nudging his thumb towards the back room near the courtyard. "They just went in the back room. Mister Elric just needed a breather…he looked a little nervous, so I'm sure he'll be out in a minute. Why? Do you need to ask him a question?"

"Ummm…" began Sheska.

"Oh, most definitely!!" exclaimed Lukas, jumping out from the group, his eyes sparkling with excitement and awe at the performance he just saw. Anna laughed at her younger brother and smiled. Lukas had been enthralled with rocketry ever since he saw the mechanics behind it in a book a few years ago.

"I have so many questions to ask him!! How did he ever get so good at it at such a young age?! I have to know! There's so much I still need to learn about it!" Lukas rambled on and on, and the girls smiled at him. It was so good to have a passion like his.

They looked over to see the two brothers opening the door and walking out. Claire chuckled and Anna laughed out loud when Lukas practically pounced on Mister Elric, berating him with questions and curiosities that filled his head. Claire almost felt sorry for the poor man, getting himself into all this mess, especially when he was attacked by…umm…fans, to use the correct word in Lukas's case. She laughed though, when she saw the boy next to the great rocket scientist start laughing at him. The older one glared at him and lashed out at him with a sarcastic tone, "Thanks for the help, Al… you're a great pal… some brother."

Almost immediately, the younger brother seemed disheartened by his older brother's comment, giving him a sad puppy look and crying in his face, "What? Brother, you don't mean that!!"

They bickered for a couple minutes before they stopped and everything turned silent. They turned their heads to see the rest of the group staring at them blankly and their faces took a sort of reddish tinge. Anna was the first one to laugh loudly at their embarrassment. Claire and Sheska exchanged a nervous chuckle. The brothers decided to put their siblings quarrel aside for another time and go over to see their guests. Lukas went back to his sister's side as the Elrics walked over, regaining their former happiness and charm. Just as they got close, and the older brother held out his hand to Sheska, both brothers then stopped in their tracks and stared at her, a look of shock across their faces. Just when Sheska was about to ask them if something was wrong, the boys looked to each other, sighed with a laugh and nodded.

Confused, Sheska decided to ask them about it. "Umm…is there something wrong?" she gasped, "Is there something on my face?! That's it, isn't it!" At once, the both of them shook their heads and laughed nervously. "N-No no no, that's not it. It's just.." began the older one.

"It's just, you remind us of an old friend of ours." finished the younger one. Blinking curiously, Sheska reached out and took the older brother's and, as he had first offered. "Well, I should at least introduce myself then…I'm Sheska!"

"R-Right…Sheska." Answered Edward. Claire gave him a secret strange glance. They were acting awfully familiar with Sheska, as if he had seen her or met her before, but to her knowledge, she never remember Sheska talking about them, and the fact that she just introduced herself means that she hadn't. Claire took this into account. They were acting a little strange, even when Sheska said her name! What could this- "CLAIRE!"

Suddenly snapping out of her thoughts, she turned her head around to see Anna right in front of her face, and she nearly stumbled back. Anna was giving her a funny look, and hit Claire on the head a couple times to make sure the lights were on upstairs. "Earth to Claire!" she called, "Wake up, you dummy!"

Shooing her friend away, Claire sighed and turned to see the brother's looking over to her with skeptical looks. She laughed nervously, scratching the back of her head and gulped. She couldn't believe that she completely spaced out in front of everyone. How embarrassing. She looked to them with a shamed look and extended her hand to them. "I-I'm so sorry…I-I can't believe I actually did that, forgive my rudeness…I'm Claire, nice to meet you both."

The older brother took her hand and shook it in a friendly manner, smiling to her. "Nice to me you too, I'm Edward…and he" he nudged his thumb to the other boy, "is my little brother, Alphonse."

"Yeah, this is Claire, the space cadet!" Anna shouted in her ear, wrapping her arms around her shoulders and laughed. Blushing, Claire shoved Anna off her, barking at her about how her remarks were embarrassing, while the rest of the fray chuckled at their argument. After that, the twins introduced themselves to the brothers, who gave Lukas a wary look as he almost jumped on them again. The girls laughed at him and the six of them chatted and laughed for a good while, talking mostly of trivial things until…"Hey, which reminds me." began Sheska, "Do the two of you have some place to stay? If you don't, you're welcome to come to my place." she finished with a smile.

Anna's laugh rang through the air as she grabbed Sheska in a tight hug, messing up her hair. As Sheska tried in vain to escape her grip, Anna chuckled to her and spoke in a teasing voice. "Yeah right, of course you will Sheska! You just want to have them go to your place because you think they're handsome and you wouldn't mind spending some extra time with them."

Sheska's face turned beet red from embarrassment and both Claire and Lukas looked to Anna with shocked expressions as she laughed. Edward and Alphonse didn't know what to say and just looked awkwardly to each other. When Sheska finally found her voice, she spoke out against Anna's accusations. "Anna! How could you say something like that? That is most certainly not true! I was just trying to help a couple of people in need!" then whispered under her breath, "And trying to protect them from you because I know that is what YOU would do…"

"What was that?" asked Anna.

"Nothing! Nothing at all…"

Claire and Lukas chuckled playfully under their breath as Anna looked confusingly at both of them, not getting the joke. She shook and begged them to tell her what was so funny, but their lips were sealed.

Meanwhile, the brothers were having a tough time deciding what to do with Sheska's offer. While it was true that they didn't have a place to stay, they didn't want to burden Sheska with their stay either. After they debated it for a while, Sheska finally convinced them to accept her offer.

Claire smiled at her best friend, happy that she was always ready to help someone in need. Sheska knew that Edward and Alphonse wouldn't be welcome at Anna and Lukas's house because their mother was strict, and even if she wasn't, she didn't think it was safe for them to be their anyway with Anna's boy addiction and Lukas's ramblings. She certainly couldn't house the boys are her place either. Her mother never liked strangers coming into the house, even if they were nice. She was very paranoid.

As the sun rolled across the blue sky, Lukas looked to his watch and whistled. "It's getting late everyone. Sheska, if you want to be able to bring their things to your house, I suggest you get started."

Nodding to him, Sheska turned to the boys and asked, "I agree…where are your things? We can get them and then go to my place."

Edward and Alphonse nodded back and smiled to her. "Thank you so much for your hospitality Sheska. This means a lot to us…but are you sure it's all right with your folks at home?" asked Edward.

Claire and the twins coughed, and Sheska glared to them when they whistled innocently. Crossing her arms with a small huff, she turned to the boys. "Let's get going! They don't know what they're talking about!" before turning around and stomping away towards the direction that the brothers pointed to where their supplies were. Edward and Alphonse looked to each other, nervously gulping and wondering if they made the right choice by staying with her. She didn't seem like the type of person you wanted to get angry.

After Sheska left with her houseguest, the other three saw no reason to stay and decided to head home. As she walked in the direction of her house, Claire laughed when she heard Anna's voice behind her, "A shame you didn't let them go to your place Claire! I would have completely said yes to them coming to my house! They were both very handsome!"

"Cut that out sister! You're such a flirt!"

The three laughed before Claire finally walked away and she could no longer see the silhouettes of the twins on the horizon.

When she finally reached home, she said hello to her mother and brother, and spent a good twenty minutes trying to get Frederic off her case about the rocketry showing. After much yelling, complaining, whining, and French gibberish later, she finally got her brother to leave her alone as she entered her room and threw herself down on her small bed, sighing heavily. Today had been a big day, and she bet that Sheska was having an even more hectic day trying to explain why these boys wanted to spend the night at her house to her parents. Edward and Alphonse Elric…

Suddenly, she realized that she had heard that name before. Elric… where had she heard that name? It seemed so familiar to her…like she had read about it or heard of it in rumors. It dawned her then as she stumbled off her bad and ran into her closet, rummaging through the piles upon piles of newspapers and magazines that she collected to keep herself informed of all the little quirks going on in this crazed country since the end of the war. She chuckled when she remembered her friends telling her that she was such a pack rat for keeping all these things, but she felt they would come in handy one day. Now was a good example. Just as she was starting to lose faith in her search, she dug through the articles that held information of the failed Munich Insurrection. Glancing to them, her eyes widened when she quickly skimmed over one of the news articles, and read it to herself.

"_Munich Insurrection, failed. Rebel force stops Thule Society plot of using massive weapons to aid Furher."_

Staring at the article for a long time, she slowly turned the pages, reading every line carefully before she saw it at the end of the article. The name. It was unmistakably there, in black and white. There was one thing that made her sure that these were the same Elrics staying with Sheska. There, at the end of the article, was a picture of the inner factory previously ruled by the Thule Society, and a picture of a defeated Haushoffer, Furher Adolph Hitler's right hand man. There, in the back of the shot, with the same ponytail of golden hair that stuck out from his head, was Edward, and right next to him, it was Alphonse. They looked like they were taking something apart, something big, but what was it?

With questions filling her head, staring wide-eyed at the page in front of her, Claire slowly put the article down and tried processing what she had just found out. Edward and Alphonse were the same Elrics that stopped the Thule Society from aiding Hitler in his uprising? That was just…she didn't know whether to say incredibly brave or incredibly ridiculous. Only, now that she knew the truth, what was she suppose to do? And an even bigger question was…what were they doing here?


	5. Chapter 5

That night, Claire fell asleep with so many questions swimming through her head. She didn't think she even would fall asleep… that is, until, her head hit the pillow and she went out like a light.

The following day, she woke up with the sun shining in her face, and, grudgingly, awoke, stretching and yawning. Trying in vain to run a brush through her mat of strawberry-blond tangled curls, she headed strait for the bathroom and did her usual morning rituals of cleaning and brushing herself up. Glancing outside, she knotted her brow nervously when she saw how high the sun was in the sky. She must have really slept in. Getting ready even quicker, she flew out the bathroom door, looking at the clock and gasping, "Oh my gosh! It's already that late?! Frédéric! Frédéric, pourquoi n'as-tu pas me réveille plus tôt?!"

"Parce que je voulais être gentil et laisse ma soeur avoir le repos qu'elle avait besoin…" said Frederic with a smile. Claire sighed. Her little brother was so caring, and she really appreciated the thought, but… but this was not a time to sleep in! She needed to find her friends and tell them to news that she had discovered last night when she was looking through her news articles! Rushing to put her shoes on, and tripping a couple times because of her haste, she ran into the living room, giving her mother a quick kiss before racing to the front door, "Maman! Je pars maintenant! Je ne serais pas trop long!"

"Si tu regardes pour tes amis, ils sont déjà dehors… et qui sont ses nouveaux garçons avec eux? Ils semblent si gentils…"

Stopping dead in her tracks, Claire looked to her mother with a disbelieving face, responding with a shocked, "Haaaaaaahhh?! Ils sont déjà ici?!"

Panicking even more, she raced out the door, and stopped again when she saw all her friends, including the Elric boys, standing outside, just talking casually. She blinked for a moment at the scene before her, then exclaimed loudly, which got their attention. "W-W-What!? What are you all doing in front of my house?! And what are you all doing here!?"

When the fray looked to her and blinked, Sheska smiled and ran over to give her a hug. "Good morning, Claire. Did you sleep well?"

Anna gave her usual cocky smile and walked over to the other two, patting Claire on the back. "So, you've finally woken up, have you? It took you long enough…my money was on that your mother was holding you hostage in your house. Had a temptation to go break you out, but then I wouldn't want to do anything to your mother because she's so nice…"

Claire sighed and gave Anna a grimace at her wild imaginative thoughts and remarked sarcastically, "My, good morning to you too, Anna…glad to see you're still your usual strange, chaotic self…" Turning to Sheska, she gave her best friend a big hug back and smiled to her. "And yes, Sheska, I did have a good…long, sleep, thanks to Frederic."

Sheska laughed at this and knew that Frederic wouldn't have woken up his sister if she wanted to sleep.

As Claire chatted with her girlfriends, she then remembered what she had to tell them about the Elric brothers and gasped with a small 'Ooh! That's right! I remember now! There's something I have to tell you!" Pointing to the brothers, a serious face plastered on her pale skin, she looked to them directly in the eyes as she spoke, "Everyone! These boys are-!"

"The same ones that helped out the Rebels stop the Thule Society during the Munich Insurrection? Yeah, we know." finished Anna casually. As the stolen words caught her sentence in its tracks, Claire froze for a moment before frowning to Anna, "Hey! That isn't fair Anna! Why do you always have to ruin the- hey wait!...you know?" Claire then stopped and questioned the taller blonde.

Nodding, Anna smirked to her as if she had known from the beginning. "Of course, fool. You think it's a big secret or something? We all know!"

"It's printed in practically every paper and news article in the country! What, you think the government wouldn't make a big deal about Hitler's uprising in Munich? And don't forget, the Thule Society was said to be a major part of his plans, so of COURSE they would have something about Thule's failure in at least a couple papers…" explained Lukas as he suddenly popped up between Claire and Sheska, making them squeak in surprise at his sudden appearance.

As the four discussed about this amongst themselves, Alphonse and Edward turned to each other and gulped nervously. "Well brother… what now?"

"I'm not sure Al…I didn't expect that we would become famous overnight because of the incident that happened with Thule… I didn't even know that there were pictures taken of us! There goes our cover…" sighed Edward. He didn't expect a problem like this to rear its ugly head. Now how was he suppose to explain this to these kids? E didn't exactly want to get them involved with their plans.

He suddenly snapped out of thought when he heard a voice right in front of him, and looked up to see the four of them right in his and Al's faces, questions sparkling in their curious eyes.

"Well, answer us! If you are the famous Elrics, like they said in the papers, then why are you suddenly here?" asked Sheska.

"Yeah, and what do you want? What are you after? Do you happen to know of some sort of top secret government operation and are going to attempt to change the foundations of this country through your superior knowledge?!" exclaimed Anna with a twinkle in her eyes as her friends looked to her warily.

"T-That's a bit much, don't you think Sis?" asked Lukas with a questionable tone.

Laughing and waving his hands in front of him, Edward tried his best to defend his case and to get these nosy people off his back. "No no, it's nothing like that, you see…where just…just.."

"Where just trying to improve our skills in rocketry and encourage others to go into the field as well. It's a very promising field, trust me." Finished Alphonse while Edward sighed and smiled to his brother with a hint of gratitude.

However, the four were relentless and wouldn't accept Alphonse's answer. They pestered the brothers for answers and barraged them with questions until, finally, Edward had had enough. "You know, we should REALLY be going now, we have lots of things to do, lots of errands to take care of…let's go Al." he turned to his little brother, urging him to follow as he began to walk the other way.

Turning to his brother with a nod, the two began to run off in the other direction as the four complained and urged them to come back. "Come on Elric! Take it like a man and answer our questions!" yelled Anna.

"Cowards!" added Claire as the two waved back to them before disappearing.

After they were gone, Lukas turned to his sister and smirked. "You know, I could go after them sis…"

However, just as Anna was about to answer, Claire stepped in first. "No Lukas… let them go. I'm sure they have their reasons for not talking, but I'm not quite sure why… but I have this feeling that eventually, they'll come to us. However, I think, if anything, can be said…"

"They are definitely suspicious!" Sheska finished, turning to Lukas, "Don't you think so, Lukas?"

Turning to her, Lukas smiled and nodded, "Suspicious of I ever saw it, Sheska."

"Then we all agree!" began Anna, "Our mission is to get the Elrics to talk and find out what they're hiding from us!" she yelled out as she pumped her fist in the air.

"Yeah!" shouted the others, all doing the same.

From that vow, the four spent the next two weeks doing al they could to get information on the Elrics' plans in any way they could. From spying, eavesdropping, tagging them, and looking through their notes and belongings, the last which was done primarily by Anna so she could figure out a little something about them personally as well, to which, the other three sighed deeply and bowed their heads in hopelessness, they tried anything they could to get some information about the Elrics. However, as Sheska put it, the Elrics were very squeaky clean, not a single thing out of place. In other words, it was very hard to find anything out of the ordinary about them, but Claire swore by the gods, and Sheska by her tarot cards, that there was something fishy about the Elrics, and they were going to find out what.

After two weeks of kicking up dirt, Claire suddenly got a knock on her door at about eight o'clock in the evening. When she answered, she was surprised to find Sheska standing in the doorway, out of breath from running. "Sheska! What is it? Have you found something? For God's sake woman, tell me what's happening?!" Claire spewed out, shaking poor Sheska by the shoulders.

After regaining her breath, she finally opened her mouth and spoke in clear, yet panicked voice. "Claire, I think they found out we were spying on them! The Elrics, they're gone! All their things are gone too!"


	6. Chapter 6

As they walked down one of the many streets of Tübingen, carrying their luggage under their arms, the Elrics were very treading with caution as they dashed through the streets, looking for a hotel or some sort of lodging where they could put their stuff until they had the information they needed so they could leave the city. As they darted from street to street in search of a place to rest, Alphonse glanced warily around him as the people who occupied the streets gave them funny looks. He knew that people probably thought they were up to no good because of the hasty way they were moving and how desperate they looked to keep moving. He gulped as the stares and glares of others were getting to him. Looking ahead to his brother who ran ahead of him, he asked hesitantly, "Umm… are you sure it was a good idea to just leave Sheska's place like that, brother? I mean, she was very kind to us, and plus… people are looking at us. I think they suspect us of doing something bad."

"Ignore them Al. We had no choice, you know that. The were starting to get a little too wrapped up in our mission. They were even going through our things, Al…" said Edward definitively as they turned down an alley.

"B-But brother! That was awfully rude of us to just leave without a word! What if they find us anyway? What are we suppose to do now? We could have just told them our-"

"NO AL!! We can't risk that!" Edward snapped back.

The two suddenly stopped running as Alphonse stared in shock at his brother's harsh tone. Edward hardly ever used that sort of tone, especially around him. It hurt him inside, and by the stunned look in Edward's eyes, he knew it too. The two simply stood in shocked silence for a moment, not quite sure what to say to one another. Then, just as Alphonse went to say something, Edward interrupted him. "You know we can't bring others into this, Al. This… this our problem, and no one else's. We can't risk dragging other people into our mess who have nothing to do with it."

"I know brother, but still… we could've at least told them something.."

"Like what Al?! You want to tell them that we're going on some sort of dangerous mission that could wind up getting us killed and ask them if they would escort us!? Who knows, maybe we could ask them if they would like to get shot too while we're at it!"

"That's not what I meant brother and you know it!! Stop acting like you know everything!" Alphonse yelled back to his older brother.

Edward shut his trap when Al yelled back at him. Alphonse hardly ever raised his voice to him. He didn't know what to say to his little brother. They were caught in a battle, in which neither side was willing to drop his weapons first. However, they knew they had to come to an armistice to be able to continue on with their objective. Edward was furiously trying to think of a reason that Al would be so angry with him when it suddenly hit him like a rock and his eyes widened slightly. "Al… could it be that… you… you've grown attached to them? Did you… want them to be your friends? Is that why you're asking me to go back and tell them?"

Biting his lip and binding his knuckles in a fist, Alphonse looked his brother in the eye and simply said, "Like I said… stop acting like you know everything brother! Did you ever think that we would be better off there, where we could start a new life, make new friends?! Why shouldn't they be considered our friends?! We…. We don't have to do this alone brother… and you know it."

As he listened to his brother try to stifle back his tears, Edward sighed, a relaxed, yet sad expression planting itself on his face. Finally, he understood what had been bothering Alphonse this whole time. He finally understood. Alphonse had always been the more sensitive one, the more reasonable one. After all, it must have been hard to come here, to this world, and leave everyone in Amestris behind. Edward was sure that Alphonse was hoping to be able to start a new life, find new friends, find some sort of familiar ground to stand on and share that with his brother.

After staying in silence for a few minutes, Edward walked over to his brother, placing a hand on his shoulder. When Alphonse twitched and looked up at him, Edward smiled and said a calming voice, "Come on Al… Let's go."

It took him a moment before Alphonse nodded, wiping away any tears that were threatening to fall from his sepia eyes. He, once again, stood a step back from his brother as Edward walked over to his suitcase, kneeling down and opening it. "Now Al, if we can just find a place to stay, we can go see the professor and then we can get out of here.. just give me a second to get directions to the professor's place… now, let's see, where did I put them…"

Alphonse stayed quiet as his brother rummaged through his luggage, looking for the directions he needed. Thinking about it for a moment, he knew that Edward was right. They still had an important job to do, something that could cost thousands of lives if they didn't do it. They needed to find and destroy that bomb, no matter what. Even if Alphonse wanted his new friends to come along with them, he certainly didn't want to put them in any danger. A smile soon spread across Alphonse's lips. Then, he blinked when Edward shouted out, "What the hell?! No!"

"Hm? What is it, brother, what's wrong?"

Cursing and looking incredibly confused, Edward suddenly stood up, panicking and flailing his arms about. "They're gone! But how is that possible?! They can't be gone!"

"What's gone?" Al asked curiously, "You don't mean the directions, do you?"

"Of course I mean the directions, Al! What else would I be looking for in there if not the directions! This is not good, this is NOT good!" Edward started pacing back and forth, trying to remember a time when the directions could have passed them by.

While he watched his brother ponder over the whereabouts of the directions, a light bulb suddenly went off in Alphonse's mind. "Hey brother! Do you think that you could've-"

"Wha~at?!" Edward sighed dramatically, locking eyes with Alphonse.

Alphonse waited until his brother wasn't going to interrupt him before saying, " Umm.. do you think.. you could have left them behind?"

Edward blinked then began explaining, "But that's impossible! I always had them on me! The only way that they could've disappeared is if someone went through-" Edward suddenly stopped when the thought struck him. Cursing even more, he closed up his suitcase and began running out of the alley and in the opposite direction back to Sheska's. "Come on Al! We're going back!"

Stunned by his words for a moment, a wide smile spread on Al's face when his brother told them they were going back to Sheska's. Knowing the conclusion his brother probably came to, he was almost thankful that they did what they did as the brothers raced back to get their directions back.

Meanwhile, back at Sheska's, Claire and Sheska ran over to the house were the twins were waiting for them. As they caught up, both girls stopped for a moment to catch their breath before Claire asked, "What happened?"

"Isn't that obvious? The Elrics ran off on us!" exclaimed Anna in her all-knowing tone.

"I know that much Anna," said Claire, "I just want to know if that's it, or if there's more to it. Maybe they left a note or something?"

"They must've caught onto us." said Sheska, still catching her breath. " The question is, what will we do now? Did anyone manage to figure out ANYTHING during the time they were here?"

Smirking like a fox, Anna stepped forward and looked to both girls with a devious grin, like she knew something they didn't. Looking to each other, Claire and Sheska looked back up the their friend with curious looks. Reaching for her pocket, Anna pulled out a small, folded piece of paper.

The others just blinked before Anna explained, "This, my friends, is a clue as to what the Elrics are going, and possibly what they're planning."

"What?!" shouted the other three in unison, looking to Anna disbelievingly before Anna handed the paper to Sheska. Carefully opening it, Sheska took one hard look at the paper, adjusting her glasses on the bridge of her nose. "They're directions" she simply said.

"Directions?" asked Claire, "To where?"

Taking the paper from Sheska's hands, Lukas glanced carefully at the names of the streets that were written down and mentally followed the route before gasping when he figured it out. "This is… the route to my professor's place!" he exclaimed.

"What?!" said the girls before looking to each other, then to Anna, who wore a smug look.

Laughing lightly, Claire reached up to pat Anna on the back, praising her for her work. "Anna, you sly fox.." she choked out between laughs.

Anna took the compliment a little too well; holding her head high and smirking like a hyena. "What can I say? I guess I'm just that good… and they since this looks like something that's important, they should be back to get it!"

Sheska brightened when she heard this. "That's right! We can question them then! Good thinking Anna!"

Lavishing in the compliments she was receiving, Anna glanced over when she saw the familiar streak of blond hair flash across her vision and smiled. "Well, speak of the devil.." she said a little more calmly.

The rest of the group turned suddenly when they heard a familiar voice shouting to them.

"Hey! Give it back, I know it was you Anna!!" shouted a furious Edward as he ran up to the group.

The others all wore smiles as the Elrics ran up to them, stopping only to catch their breath before Edward was yelling in Anna's face about stealing the direction as she was going through their things. "You got some nerve, going through people's things when they're not there! That's invading personal property!!" he shouted.

Anna, who just laughed heartily at Edward's attempt to intimidate her, spoke with a mocking tone at him and dangled his directions out of reach. "If you think you can take them from me, go ahead and try, little man."

Grinding his teeth irritably, Edward wrestled with Anna for what seemed like ages, until he finally grasped the directions and turned to leave, Alphonse looking to him awkwardly as Anna laughed behind him. "Aw, come on now Edward, is that it?!" shouted Anna.

Turning to the whole group, Edward finally released all his pent up anger that he had been holding for two weeks since they started spying on him. "YOU HAVE NO PART IN THIS, YOU KNOW NOTHING, SO STOP PRETENDING LIKE YOU DO!! I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU THINK OF ME OR AL, BUT YOUR LITTLE GAMES AREN'T GOING TO MAKE ME TELL YOU ANYTHING!"

After this outburst, the whole crowd as silent, no one having anything to say. No one knew how to take this. The four were absolutely shocked that Edward had snapped like that. Sure, they knew that what they were doing wasn't exactly honorable, but they never expected such a sudden, violent reaction.

Edward lowered his head as his teeth grinded together, his hands balling into fists. Yet, just as he was about to turn around, a voice stopped him in his tracks. "You're wrong Edward…"

Edward turned back around to see the whole group looking at Claire as she stared into his eyes, a determined look on her face, a look that told him to look at her as she was talking to him. Both he and Al were silent as she spoke.

"You're wrong Edward… you think that we're brainless? That we don't know ANYTHING?! Well, YOU'RE WRONG!!"

Edward twitched at the tone in her voice as she continued.

"You think that you alone in this, that we're just doing all this for sport, that we have nothing better to do than to make things a hassle for you? You're so blind… Did you ever stop to think that we might be doing this because we care, Edward?! WE CARE! I don't care how much you think that two weeks isn't enough time to form a friendship, to us… you two… YOU ARE OUR FRIENDS! Sure, part of us may be curious about your true intentions and why you would hide things from us, " Anna coughed. "But we're really doing this because we know you won't tell us anything, no matter how many times we asked! You're so stubborn! We know you're planning something, but we're here to tell you that you don't have to do this alone! You have friends, Edward, no matter how alone you think you are… we care, and we know that whatever you may be planning is dangerous. That's why you don't want to get us involved, isn't it? How stupid can you be to thing that something so trivial would stop us!"

Pure shock illuminated Edward's face as she spoke. More and more, she kept getting all the right answers, and he saw the same look of determination on all their faces as she spoke. They really did all know. They knew what was going on. "But… how?" he asked in a whisper.

"We know," Claire continued, "we know that you're planning something against the Nazis. We saw the copy of the booklet that talks about Japan's islands being of a pure race."

"You mean, I saw it!" shouted out Anna.

"Whatever!" Claire shouted back, "and we- I mean, SHE was also the one to find the directions in your coat. Everyone on the university campus knows that the professor is completely against the idea of the Nazis, why else would you go see him? We also found a picture of a group of scientists with a bomb, though we're not sure what's it for…"

"That's enough!" Edward yelled.

"No Edward! You need to hear this! To hear that we aren't as stupid as you think! You think you can hide forever, but we are determined to help you, no matter the cost, because that's what friends do, Edward! You know you would do the same for us, wouldn't you?! You think we can't see past your façade? Your arm… it's made of metal, isn't it?"

Edward gasped when he heard this, his eyes going wide. That couldn't possibly be! He never had his coat or gloves off around them! They couldn't have seen his automail without.. "So, were you spying on me in my sleep too? Did you get Anna to do that, like everything else?" he asked, a sharp edge to his tone.

"No, you fool.. it wasn't that hard to figure out Edward. The first time we ever met you, we all shook hands with you. I shook hands with you. Even with your glove on, I knew that the texture under that glove couldn't have possibly been skin… Sheska deduced later that it was metallic. It's all right Edward… you don't have to hide from us anymore. We're your friends Edward; we just want to help you, so please… please let us in. Let us help you bear your burdens, even just a little. Tell us what you're up to. We want to help."

When Claire was finished her speech, the others looked to Edward and nodded as he looked to each of them individually. Looking to his Alphonse, we calmed somewhat when he saw the smile of approval on Al's face. So, even Al could see their true intentions. Al knew from the beginning that they were their friends, and even though they acted strange sometimes, they truly did care, and wanted to help them, and they wouldn't take no for an answer. That must have been another reason Al was hesitant about leaving without telling them. He always was the more sensitive one, the more reasonable one.

Chuckling lightly, Edward lowered his head, whispering to himself, "I guess I really was blind…"

After he took a moment to clear his head, he looked up to the determined faces of his friends and smiled, sighing before looking them in the eyes. "Fine", he said, "I'll tell you."


	7. Chapter 7

After deciding that his plans best be said behind closed doors, Edward and the rest of the group headed into Sheska's house because it was the closest place to where they were and her parents didn't care too much that she had company. They all ventured into Sheska's room and closed the door, locking it shut to make sure that Sheska's parents didn't get the idea to eavesdrop on them. Several comments from Anna were made about Sheska's shabby room before the group calmed down and sat on the floor and listened to Edward intently as he sat on the bed.

"Alright, before I go into too much detail about our plans," he began as he looked between his friends and his brother, "you all know about the whole situation with Thule, right?"

The group nodded and waited for Edward to continue. Edward bit his bottom lip in anxiety. He hadn't revealed much about his and Alphonse's past to anyone, not even Alphonse Heiderich. He felt a little uncomfortable about revealing so much about himself, but knew that these blockheads would help them with the bomb no matter what he said, and if he wanted to give them a good explanation into what they were going to be getting themselves into, he needed to tell them about his home because it was where the bomb came from, after all.

"Well, in the papers that you read pertaining to the Thule's part in the Insurrection, they said that it was Thule's plan to help the Fuhrer win in the Insurrection by bringing in a battalion of super-powered weapons from a mythical utopia inside the Earth's core."

"Oh! I know, that's Shamballa, right?" shouted out Sheska.

The others looked at her strangely before Edward spoke up again. "Well, uh, yeah… How did you know that? It didn't actually say that it was Shamballa in any of the papers I read…"

Twiddling her index fingers nervously with an embarrassed blush on her face from everyone staring at her, Sheska looked up to Edward with a nervous chuckle. "W-Well, that is… I-I took a mythology class last semester in school, which includes mythical locations and place, so Shamballa was one of the places we talked about. It was after we discussed the lost city of Atlantis, I believe…"

"Mythology? But wait…" Claire began as she thought about what Sheska said, "Didn't you say that you took psychology along with your science and humanity courses? You never mentioned anything about mythology class! You mean you were-!"

Suddenly, Sheska covered Claire's mouth as Claire was figuring out Sheska's little secret. Anna laughed and the boys sighed as Sheska threatened to kill them if they ever told her parents about this. "At any rate, please continue Edward… and don't ever tell my parents about this little discussion."

Giving her a crooked smile, Edward continued, "I wouldn't dream of it, Sheska."

"Wait, so does that mean that Shamballa actually exists?!" Stated Anna.

"I can't say for sure if it does or doesn't exist, but I do know they were planning to invade Shamballa through a gateway to take any weapons they could to use against the government in the Insurrection. However, the world they found…was not Shamballa." Edward deadpanned, staring hardly at the group sitting in front of him.

The group blinked when he said this and Lukas finally broke the pregnant silence. "So… if it wasn't Shamballa, then… what was it?"

Lowering his head in a sigh, Edward kept his focus on the wooden floor as he spoke. "Well see, here's the thing. The truth is that… Al and I… we're not from this world."

That caught the others even more off guard. Normally, this would be something that Anna would laugh at and brush away as some sort of joke, but by the tone in his voice, even she knew that he was telling the truth and that this was no laughing matter. Alphonse turned to his brother with a concerned look on his face. "Brother…" he said in a worrisome tone.

Just then, as the silence was beginning to turn awkward in the small room, the large grandfather clock in the corner of the room struck two o'clock as the bells chimed and echoed through the tense atmosphere. "So then…" a feminine voice spoke out.

Edward snapped his head up, not expecting someone to respond after his outrageous claims, when he and Alphonse saw Claire looking at them, her eyes, filled with both seriousness and excitement. "So then… if it wasn't Shamballa they found, are you trying to say that it was your world that they discovered?"

The rest of the group then smiled to them, urging them to continue their story. Edward and Alphonse shared a glance before shrugging their shoulders. Honestly, these people…

"Yes." Stated Edward definitively. "They found my world and decided to attack it without provocation because of some sort of self-justified idea that we were intending to take over this world. Our side fought well, and Alphonse and I did what we could to protect our home, but after we defeated Thule, we sent them back to this side of the Gate and destroyed the link between the two worlds, so that another battle would never be brought about again. Originally it was my plan to just come here alone and destroy the Gate, but then Al snuck into one of the suits of armor that they had brought over and he ended up on this side too."

The group watched a proud smile grow on Alphonse's face when Edward told them how he snuck over to this side with his brother. They knew that Edward and Alphonse went everywhere together, but the two of them definitely set a new record by even traveling dimensions together.

"The rest from there is pretty self explanatory. Thule was defeated and the Insurrection was a failure." He sighed.

"There's still just one thing I don't understand from all of this." Anna exclaimed, as she looked right at Edward.

"Hm? What?" he asked.

"Well, it's just… if Thule invaded your world, then what was your involvement in the whole thing? Why was it you and Al that came back to deal with Thule on this side?"

Sighing and lowering his head again, Edward really wished she hadn't asked that. He really didn't want to have to tell them all about his gruesome past in his world, especially… about them trying to bring their mother back to life. It was too soon for that. Way too soon. But he didn't want to lie to them either because they were his friends and they wanted to fight alongside him and Al, no matter what, so they had to know what they were dealing with.

"Well, when we were younger, my brother and I started a journey to find a mythical gem called the Philosopher's Stone, and…"

Edward glanced up and turned with a somewhat shocked expression as Alphonse covered for him by telling their friends the truth of their past without revealing too much. Edward smiled at his younger brother and whispered his name in a grateful tone, hoping Al would hear him and know just how thankful he was that his little brother came through the Gate with him to this strange world.

"I see, so near the end of your quest, Edward was killed?" whimpered Sheska breathlessly as the emotional load of the story was getting to her. Anna sighed as Sheska blew into her tissue and wiped away her tears for about the hundredth time.

"Yes," continued Alphonse in a somber voice, "but then I used the Philosopher's Stone to bring him back. However… that had cost me my own life."

"Really? How sad…" said Claire softly. She couldn't blame Sheska for letting the waterworks flow. The emotional depth of their tale was getting to her as well. She gently wiped away a small tear that was beginning to fall down her cheek. She glanced over to see Anna, and even though she was far too proud to show it, Claire knew better, and by the expression on her friend's face, Anna was trying to hide her tears as best she could. Lukas was also having a little trouble keeping his tears back. Claire noticed that even Edward held a heavy look as the memories rushed back to him. The room was filled with an emotional weight as Alphonse finished the story.

"Then, when I succeeded in bringing him back, he realized that the price of bringing him back had cost me my life and decided to try to bring me back, right brother?"

Smiling to his younger brother, Edward spoke in a soft tone. "Yes… that's right, but for some reason, instead of dying, I wound up here, in this world. I never did find out why. I thought that because I was alive, it meant that my attempt to bring Al back had failed. I couldn't understand what had happened, but I was determined to see him again, so I took up rocketry, hoping that if rocketry could send someone into outer space, it would be like the Gate, and then I could get home again. That was two years ago. Then, I got tangled up in the whole business with Thule, and now we're here…"

Alphonse nodded to him, then everyone jumped as a piercing wail filled the room as the gang turned to Sheska and watched her bawl into her tissue. "Um, Sheska… are you alright?" asked Alphonse.

"Tragic! How tragic! Oh, brotherly love is so beautiful!! I can't believe the hardships you've endured! It's all so sad!! Waaaahhhh!!!"

Claire, Anna and Lukas looked warily to each other as the Elrics looked to each before looking back to Sheska. "However, while your story is quite an impressive one… what does all this have to do with your plans here and now?" asked Claire as she redirected her attention back to the brothers.

"Well," began Edward, "At one point in our travels in our world, we came across a man named Huskinsson. He was a scientist who developed a powerful bomb and it ended up, mistakenly, on this side of the Gate. Unfortunately, it was Thule who found the bomb when it reached this side, and they still have it their possession. We think that if it gets into the hands of the wrong people, they could use it against your government to overthrow it and finish what the Insurrection failed to do. Our plan is to find the bomb and destroy it before it can be used."

Silence, once again, reign over the people sitting in the room as the four stared up at the brothers with awe sparkling in their eyes as they registered just how intense this mission was.

"Oh wow! A mission where we have to stop a bomb from destroying the government?! How exciting! It will be like we're secret agents! We'll be messing around with the Nazis and, who knows! If we pull this off right, we'll be heroes!" exclaimed Anna as she rambled on and on, glorifying her views of this mission with her own imagination.

"Be careful, Anna," Edward chided her, "Exciting, maybe, but DEFINITELY dangerous. One of the biggest reasons I didn't want to tell you all about this was because it is going to be EXTREMELY dangerous. We may have to do some pretty gruesome things…"

"Whatever it is, we'll get through it." Lukas stated as he finally spoke up. "After all, we're all friends, right? That's what friends do."

Sheska looked to Lukas, then back to the brothers, thinking hard for a moment, and then pointing her finger at them with a sudden, "Wait a minute!"

When the Elrics looked to her in disarray, she smirked to them, making them feel even more uneasy. "While your story sounds impressive and perhaps believable to some people," she said, glancing to Claire, who retorted with a small, 'Hey!', "I'm not fully convinced yet! If you two really do come from another dimension, then prove it! Show me some evidence!"

The brothers glanced to each other skeptically for a moment before Edward got an idea as he reached through the pockets of his coat looking for something, all the while mumbling that it had to be in there somewhere.

When Anna saw him rummaging through his coat, cursing the fact that he had lost the picture, a bright smile came to her face as she took a small picture from her pocket and said, "Is this what you're looking for?"

"You rotten thief!!" cried Edward as he grabbed the photo from her, "How dare you go snooping around in other people's things!! Why did you even take this picture anyway?!"

"Because he looked very handsome~!" Anna cooed back. The others all simply sighed at her usual antics. As they gathered around the picture Edward held in his hands, they saw a young man in it that looked very much like someone familiar. "Who is this?" asked Lukas.

"Well, a friend of mine told me about a theory that they had in this world that spoke of the idea of a parallel world. Another world that is connected to this one by some invisible force. These two worlds are said to share some of the same histories, but with some fundamental differences." explained Edward as he glanced at the familiar face of his deceased friend with a small smile. "This is Alphonse Heiderich. He was a good friend of mine. We met two years ago when I first came to this world and we studied rocketry together. If you notice, the Alphonse in this picture looks very similar to my brother, Alphonse."

The group glanced between the picture and the real Alphonse before gasping out loud. It was true; they did look very much alike. "While this Alphonse has passed away, my brother soon after came to this world. How is it possible that two boys named Alphonse could both play such important roles in my life, but still be near the same age and look so much alike? Also, Sheska, if you still doubt that Heiderich and my brother aren't connected through the parallel worlds or even doubt that Alphonse Heiderich even existed, I suggest you talk to the Munich Police force's Lieutenant-Colonel, or even the people that lived near his old address in Munich. That's where we were before we came here."

After compiling all the evidence that Edward gave her, Sheska sighed and stood back. "Alright, I won't argue with you. I must say, it did shock me to see something like this. Fine, I'll believe you.... for now!" she proclaimed as she laughed wholeheartedly at her loss.

Edward glanced to her for a moment before taking a deep breath and smiling. "Ok, NOW that you all know what the plan is, are you going to accompany us to our first stop?"

"You bet, little guy! And hey! I'm guessing our first stop is the professor's place since that's where these directions go to, right?" she said holding up the small piece of paper scribbled with notes.

The house suddenly shook when Edward yelled back at Anna. "DON'T CALL ME SMALL!!"

Anna just laughed in his face and held the directions out of reach again as he tried to grab them. "Funny, you sound like Claire when I tell her she's short!" Anna sneered at him.

"Well, it's not our fault that you're so tall for a girl, Anna!" Claire retorted.

After they settled that argument, mostly because Alphonse and Lukas had to tear Edward and Anna apart before they killed each other, Lukas, then, got everyone's attention.

"Alright," he said, "on to the professor's place!"

"Let's go!" cheered Sheska.

As the group filed out of Sheska's room, Edward caught Claire's arm as she turned around to look at him while the others walked out. "Yes, what is it, Edward? Is there something wrong?"

Edward looked speechless for a moment then found the right words to say and casually addressed her. "Well, I guess it's just kind of surprising. I mean, I thought you and the others would, you know… be a little more skeptical or at least laugh at us when we said that we aren't from this world… I guess I was expecting more doubt from you all. Aren't you all wondering if Al and I are crazy because we say we're from a different world? I know I would be…"

Claire stopped for a minute and thought about her answer, then looked up to him with a cheery smile. "No… I guess not. Who knows, maybe we are all just weird like that. I'm going to bet that either the shock hasn't set in yet, or you befriended a bunch of freaks that believe in people from different dimensions. I'm betting on the first one though, you know…"

"And you know I'm going for the second option, right?" he said.

She laughed and nodded. "Yes, I figured as much. Now, let's go find us a bomb."

The two laughed at how strange that sentence sounded before joining the others and heading out the front door, strait to Lukas's professor's house, and possibly, to their first clue on the whereabouts of the bomb.


	8. Chapter 8

When they had finally managed to reach the professor's house, the whole team had been thoroughly exhausted with their tribulation. Simply getting to the front gate had taken them over an hour thanks to Anna and Edward's constant fighting and bickering. Then, there was Alphonse, who tried to get his brother to calm down and keep focused on the task at hand as Lukas chided Anna for arguing with Edward as she barked back. Claire wondered if those two would ever stop fighting, and Sheska looked as though she was about to join in on the arguing as the tension and yelling were getting to her.

They stopped just at the front door, glancing up to the house with confused expressions. Somehow, they had pictured something a little different from this. The professor's house was quite well taken care of, despite the many hours in a day spent at the university, however, it was quite small. Very small. They had pictured a professor to live in a large house with sleek, stone walls and maids and butlers that served him night and day, because like most kids around then; they thought he was rich. To say they were surprised to see such a small home owned by a professor of the university, to them, was quite a surprise.

Edward gulped as he slowly raised his hand to knock on the door a couple of times as the others behind him waited anxiously for a response. Then, a masculine voice rang into their ears as they heard him ask, "Yes, I'm coming… who is it?"

"It's us, professor. The Elric brothers? We're here to talk to you about some important matters, remember?" said Edward hesitantly, hoping the man remembered who he and his brother were, considering they had been in the area for quite a while now.

The group waited a moment before the sudden rustle of the doorknob made them all jump as the professor opened the door to look at them. Blinking with a rather hearty smile, he looked to Edward and spoke in a cheery voice. "Yes yes, of course! Mr. Elric! Haven't seen you for quite some time now… I was beginning to wonder when you and your brother would show."

He stopped when he suddenly realized that there were six pairs of eyes watching him instead of only two. As he glanced over the somewhat familiar faces of a few of his students, he caught sight of the most familiar of all trying to hide in the back behind his sister and his two other friends. He blinked, grabbing Lukas by the shoulders and patting him on the back with his large hands and laughing wholeheartedly. "Lukas m'boy! Didn't expect to see you here with Mr. Elric! No need to be shy around me, boy! Come now; tell me, how've you been? Is your mother doing good these days?"

Lukas sighed and turned slightly pale-faced as the force from the professor's big hands hitting his back knocked the wind out of him. He looked to his professor woefully as the older man laughed thunderously, stroking his yellow beard. "Yes Sir… always the same, you know… Sir? Shouldn't we talk some other time? I mean, you and Edw- I mean, Mr. Elric have important things to- whoa!" Lukas cut into his sentence when he felt the pull of his professor's arm dragging him into the house.

"You're absolutely right, m'boy!" said the older man as he dragged his pupil into his home. "We should discuss these matters inside Mr. Elric, to avoid any attention from unwelcome ears. Speaking of which…" he said, glancing to the other girls on the front step, "Why are you and your friends here, Richter?"

However, Edward interrupted before Lukas could answer his question. "Well, it's all kind of complicated, you see. They know all about us, so they've decided to come along and help us with this whole business."

"Oh really now?" asked the bearded man astonishingly. "I see… guess there's no helping it then. Come on inside everyone."

As Lukas and his professor disappeared into the bowels of the house, Edward and Alphonse looked to Anna with confusion.

"Richter?" they asked in unison.

"Yes, our last name." Anna stated bluntly as she strolled into the house after her brother.

The brothers blinked to each other before putting the names together. "Anna and Lukas… Richter? Really?" they asked, almost disbelievingly.

"Yes, now come inside the house before I close the door on you!" she threatened as the brothers instantly understood and dashed in the house, followed closely by Claire and Sheska.

As the fray gathered in the professor's living room, each taking a seat on a chair or sofa, before they began talking about what they came here for, Anna interjected. "Hold on a moment if you will, Professor!"

Everyone in the room suddenly focused on Anna as she turned and pointed a guilty finger strait in the older man's face, as if catching him off-guard. "Y-Yes… what is it, Ms. Richter, is something the matter?"

"What I want to know is why you're acting so chummy towards my little brother, calling him by his first name and all… how come no one else can act that way with you? Answer me that!" she accused.

The professor blinked at her strange question for a moment, then burst into a fit of laughter that echoed off the walls of the room. "Well, I must say, that certainly is a strange question, m'dear." he said before taking off his glasses and wiping them on his shirt. After he put them back on, he looked her strait in the eyes, blue meeting blue, as he answered with an upbeat tone. "That because Lukas here is my star pupil! Best grades in the class! The boy's just too smart for his own good!" he said proudly, releasing another thunderous laughter.

Anna glanced to her brother, who looked away with a nervous laughter, then back to the professor disbelievingly. "I don't know that I can believe you, Professor! After all, Lukas has had terrible grades in almost every class last semester!" Claire and Sheska felt bad for the poor boy as he lowered his head listening to his sister's rambling about his not-so-great marks in school.

The professor laughed back and smiled to her. "Well, that may be true for every other class, but certainly not mine! The boy is quite the physics master, let me tell you!"

"Anna! Can we please talk about what we actually came here for instead of my marks in school?!" Lukas barked to her as she patted the top of his head with a grin.

"Sure thing, little brother, but next time you do so well in class, don't be afraid to tell me or mother. Trust me, we're not going to kill you for having GOOD marks in school." She ruffled his hair before taking a seat next to him on the professor's couch.

"Now then professor" began Sheska, "Edward has told us roughly what we are planning to do, and that you would have some valuable information for us. My question is, what is your involvement in all of this? I didn't think we would come to you of all people about something so…. so…"

"So confidential?" finished Claire.

"Yes, that's it! Thank you…" Sheska replied as Claire nodded to her as a silent grace.

"Well now, getting right down to the complicated questions, aren't we?" he asked with hint of playfulness in his voice. Sitting back in his chair, he sighed as he prepared to answer their question.

"The thing is, as you can probably guess it, most of you in this room are German, and a few of us, like you two siblings," he pointed to Anna and Lukas, "and myself are what these Nazis and their Fuhrer call descendants of the ancient 'Aryan' race. Most noticeably about being a so-called 'Aryan' is the blond hair and blue eyes. Most of family is of the 'Aryan' race, so naturally, many members of my family are big supporters of this man, Adolph Hitler, and his plans for the German people, mainly because they, as 'Aryan', are safe from any harm. However, ever since I came back from the War, I've never agreed with their views. In my opinion, Germany lost the War, fair and square, and the only thing to do to keep any of our pride as a nation was to retreat before we were completely broken down. However, although I might not agree to many of Hitler's view, I still keep my foot in the door, so to speak. Through a friend of mine, I've managed to stay in touch with what the higher ups like Hitler and his group and have heard rumors about what their true intentions are. They've asked me to join their ranks several times, but I turned them down. I much prefer my peaceful life here, at the school, doing all I can to help give kids these days the hope and knowledge they need for a brighter future ahead. Hopefully, one without anymore war…"

"Wait, a friend of yours, professor? Who is it?" Claire said out of the blue, nearly bolting out of her seat as she listened intently to his tale.

The older man looked to her, and then turned his gaze to Edward as he explained. "It's someone who you should already know fairly well, Mr. Elric. The same one that gave you word of me, and told me about you."

It didn't take Edward long to figure out this mystery person and gasp while jumping out of his seat. "You mean Lang? That buffoon? But that's impossible! If he was really your informant from within, then how come he didn't tell me anything and told me to come see you?!"

The professor laughed at Edward raged outburst and raised a hand, telling the young man to settle down so he could answer his question. "The answer to that is very simple Mr. Elric. He didn't tell you because he doesn't know anything about the whereabouts of this device. He may have known about its existence and Hitler's plan to use it to his advantage, but he didn't know anything about where to find it. I, however, do."

The rest of the fray gasped as the room fell silent with awe and disbelief at his claims. "What? You don't believe me?" he asked with a hint of sadness in his tone.

"Well, umm, it's a little difficult for us to Sir…" said Lukas shyly.

The older man nodded to him and looked between the faces of every teen in the room. Whether they showed it or not, every one of them showed some degree of disbelief to another. Sighing, he spoke again, trying to open them up more to his words. "I understand your hesitation to believe what I say, but I have no reason to lie to you. I know I might not seem like much since I'm only a professor that teaches kids at a university. In fact, I shouldn't even know ANYTHING about this. However, I guess it was just my luck that I happened to stumble across this information at random. The reason Professor Lang knows of this is because I told him that I had found something, but I didn't tell him what it was."

"So you DID find something!" said Alphonse, returning to his happy frame of mind. The others all leaned in closer to hear what exactly the professor found without realizing it.

He nodded to Al and stroked the yellow hair on his chin before answering him properly. "Well, to be honest, it wasn't much. I still don't really get it all myself. It's not much, just some strange code that I heard when I was visiting an old friend of mine up in Berlin last season. I think you would know he if you've read the papers, he's one of Hitler's followers, professor Haushoffer?"

He was caught off-guard when Edward jumped from his seat and addressed the man right in his face. "What?! You're friends with Haushoffer and you didn't tell us?! Is there anything else you might be hiding from us that you think isn't important enough to say?! For all we know, that piece of information that you're holding from us could mean the difference between life or a bullet through the head!"

The professor frowned on Edward's furious reaction and responded with a harsh tone that told everyone that he was the one in command in this house. "Listen, Mr. Elric, I assure you, that if it were not for my generosity and wanting to help do what's best for my country, I would not be giving you such information. Now, you can kindly sit down and allow me to finish, or leave. The choice is yours."

"Brother, please! Just sit down." Al called out to his short-tempered brother.

The others were speechless as they watched Edward let the man go, bowing his head in resentment before quietly sitting back down in his chair. "Please forgive me professor. I didn't mean to act so rash towards you…"

After the initial shock of the previous display, the professor straitened the tie on his shirt, clearing his throat and nodding to the beaten young man. "Yes, well, apology accepted. Please don't let it happen again. As I was saying… I don't have much for you, but I do hope that you we be able to succeed where I have failed in cracking this code…"

"Oh, thank you very much, Sir! Anything would be helpful at this point!" Lukas praised his professor as he passed him a small, folded piece of paper and shook hands.

"'Tis no trouble at all, m'boy. Now, I would let you stay, but it's starting to get late and I would hate to see you all in trouble at home. Run along now before I find your backs in the streets because you've been kicked out!" he shooed them as they all filed out of his house.

As the professor shoved them all out the door before closing it behind them, the party all glanced to each other before Claire spoke up. "Hey Lukas…"

"Yes Claire?" he replied.

"You're professor sure is a strange bird."

"Yes… yes he is." Lukas sighed in agreement. Sheska, Alphonse, and Anna all nodded in agreement with her statement as well.

Edward really did feel bad for snapping at the jolly professor like that. After all, he was only trying to help them, but he had more important things to deal with right now. "Hey, now what does that paper say Lukas!" Anna exclaimed as she reached for the paper, but Edward grabbed it first and opened it, attempting to read it before hearing an angry Anna behind his shoulder. "Hey! Who the hell do you think you are, Elric!" she barked.

"Sister, don't use such language in public like that! You know what mother would do if she could hear you?" Lukas warned his devilish sister.

However, Anna ignored her paranoid brother as she tackled Edward, both fighting for the paper before Sheska, in annoyance over their constant arguments, walked over and took it from them without them even noticing. Opening the paper as Claire glanced over her shoulder, the shorter woman looked to Sheska with innocent curiosity. "Well, what does it say Sheska?"

"Strange…" Sheska replied with a curious tone.

"It says strange?" Claire asked quizzically.

"Huh? Oh! No, it doesn't say strange, fool." Sheska laughed to her. "But listen to this, it says…"

_I follow the path of Justice_

_To where the Witching Hour tolls_

_I look to the eyes_

_That shine of gold_

_Christ is my guide_

_He shows me the route_

_In love for me_

_His heart pours out_

_His left hand is the balance_

_And justice, his right_

_I follow the path of Justice_

_To let the caged bird take flight_

_I go to the City of Bread_

_The Aryans guide me_

_And on the eve of the Fall_

_They will be set free_

Reading over the paper again and again, Sheska and Claire glanced to each other, blinked with shared feeling of cluelessness before saying in unison, "A…poem?"

Slowly, everyone else began to join their huddle, each reading over the note several times, and all getting the same confused, clueless expression.

"What is this?! Nothing about this makes sense!" barked Anna, scratching her head and pulling at her hair, failing at seeing anything significant about the mysterious poem.

Lukas glanced to the sun falling in the sky and stiffened, getting the attention of his group. "H-Hey! The sun's going down! Come on! We don't want to get punished by mother, right Anna?!"

"My goodness! You're right Lukas! Let's go!" Anna grabbed Lukas's arm, wishing all her friends and 'the little man' a good night before scampering off home as Edward yelled out after her about making fun of his height.

Sighing, Sheska turned to her friends and wished them goodbye before her leave as well. Sheska's parents might not have minded company, but her father would be furious if she was caught out after sundown. Edward waved goodbye to Sheska before turning to his brother. "Ok, Al, let's- huh?"

He saw, however, that Alphonse and Claire were huddling around the little note, murmuring and whispering, trying to figure out what the note could possibly mean. Smiling, Edward chuckled and asked them, "So, what did you two find out?"

"Absolutely nothing." They deadpanned.

Looking at them warily, he asked, "Uhhh… then why are you whispering so much? Is it something you don't want me to worry about?" He said with a smug chuckle as Alphonse looked to him skeptically.

"No, you fool." Claire answered bluntly. "We just think that this isn't any old, ordinary poem. There has to be something, or else the professor wouldn't have given it to us."

"Well, there's obviously something more to it, idiot! That's simple enough to figure out!" Edward retorted.

"Don't call a Lady an idiot!" Claire barked to him.

"That was for calling me a fool!" he barked back. "And since when were YOU considered a Lady?!"

"WHAT?! You have some nerve Elric!!" She yelled back.

Alphonse sighed to them as they walked back in the direction of Sheska's house where the Elrics were staying. Claire's house was close by, so it wasn't strange that she was walking with them, however…

"Brother, do you have to pick a fight with EVERYONE?" Alphonse asked himself.

Meanwhile, in the walls of the capital city, plans were already beginning to unfold faster than our group, including the Elrics, would realize. Sitting at his desk with a light novel, one man's true intentions were masked by a skilled poker face as he turned the pages of his book. Suddenly, a knock at the door distracted him.

"Yes, who is it?" he asked in an irritated tone.

"Professor Haushoffer, sir, you have a phone call. It's from our little rat." spoke another man from the other side of the door.

Pondering about his response for a moment, he called out to the man. "Very well, Lieutenant Hess. Bring me the phone."

"As you wish, professor." said Hess as he entered the room, holding the phone as Haushoffer picked it up off the hook, speaking to the person on the other end with a sense of pride.

"Yes, this is Haushoffer. I expect that you have a report for me?" he asked.

"Yes, sir, I do." said a rather calm voice on the other end.

"Well, let's hear it." said the professor impatiently.

"O-Of course sir! Well… it seems that our little inquiry is beginning to sniff out our tracks. He's spoken to the professor at the university today and has the code in his possession." said the voice.

"Oh really? But I thought that the professor had been taken care of!" Haushoffer yelled to the informant.

The person on the other end caught their breath at his fury, but then calmed down again. "I thought it was Lieutenant Hess's job to… take care of the professor…"

Haushoffer then glared at Hess when he knew his informant was correct. Hess gulped and smiled nervously to his superior officer, not wanting to get into any trouble he didn't need to be in. Haushoffer scoffed, returning to his conversation with his rat.

"Well, even with the code, he should not be able to easily decipher it. But, just to make sure… take it from him and destroy it, my little rat."

"Y-Yes sir… I will do as you command."

"Very good. I'm sure the ancestors of the Aryan race would be proud of you. We can't allow that boy to ruin everything the way he did with Thule. We won't make that same mistake twice, do you hear me?" asked Haushoffer.

"Of course professor…"

"It was good of you to come to us when you learned of his current whereabouts. He can't have him roaming around, snooping into our affairs without us know. It's for much more than just the Fuhrer, but for the spirit of the Aryan people themselves. We're doing this for them."

"I understand…sir."

"I'm glad you do. Now, keep an eye on him and don't let him out of sight." ordered Haushoffer.

"Understood." Replied the calm voice before hanging up the phone.

Haushoffer put the phones on the hook, staring at it for a moment before Hess interrupted him. "Sir?"

"We've no need to worry Hess," he said, a sly smile spreading on his lips. "With our little rat in the mix of things, not even that Elric boy will be a problem for us."


	9. Chapter 9

It had been over three months of investigating since the day they had visited the professor's house and received the strange riddle, and still, they were only kicking up dirt. They had gone back to visit with him several times and perhaps try to get more out of the stern old man that he hadn't told them of yet. Most of the time, the group had to drag Edward and Anna out, kicking and screaming because neither of them wanted to give up and figured that the professor had something to hide.

"It's hopeless!" Sheska would tell them, huffing her displease at their childish behaviour. "We will just have to work with what we've got. The professor clearly doesn't have any more information for us or he would've told us by now. Time to hit the books!" She exclaimed, followed by a groan from the others.

Most of their time was spent either in the library or somewhere where Sheska couldn't find them and make them start researching through the books again. Edward and Alphonse seemed pretty enthusiastic about the whole deal, doing a fair amount of research on the strange poem every day. However, because of their background, they had very little knowledge of this world's past or theories. When it came down to it, it was all mythological study, pure and simple.. The Witching Hour, the Right hand of Justice, the City of Bread, the Aryan race; it was all up to them to try and unravel the mystery behind those hidden meanings. If they could do that, then Sheska was sure they could figure out where the bomb was being held. However, the was just one problem with her endeavor…

"What do you mean you won't go to the library today?!" yelled Sheska, who was trying to tear her hair from the roots as she stood before the twins in disarray.

"You heard us, we won't go." They responded at the same time.

"Why not?! It's not like you have anything better to do! Besides, Edward and Alphonse could use your help! Lukas! You took mythology in first year, right? So, why won't you help them? It's not like it will hurt you, and if we can pull this off, we could be heroes, just like you said, Anna!"

"Yes, I did mythology, but we still won't do it." replied Lukas.

"Why don't you get Claire to help you? You and her always seem to be the ultimate duo for getting things done around here."

At the mention of the other girl's name, Sheska tore at her hair again and let out an exaggerated sigh. "I would ask her to help if I could FIND HER! She's gone and disappeared again! Unlike you two, she HAS been helping, but she keeps leaving half-way through her research!"

The twins chuckled and looked to Sheska, as if there was an obvious answer to her dilemma. "Come now Sheska dear, you've known Claire how long now? Don't you know she spends hours in a day on that blasted piano of hers?" Anna stated in a blatant tone.

Growling, Sheska's stress level soared through the roof as she grabbed Anna by the shoulders and started shaking her. "I know that, but why does she have to be so picky about it?! Missing one day of practice to save the country doesn't seem like a difficult choice to me!"

Glancing to each other apathetically, the twins looked to Sheska as Anna took Sheska's hand of her and looked her in the eyes with a smirk. "Look Sheska, if you're so driven to get Claire to go with you to the library, why don't you go pry her off that piano yourself? Just don't come crying to us when she gets angry at you."

"Besides," continued Lukas, "There's no point in us going to the library because we both know…"

"That there's nothing in there that will help us find the answers we're looking for." they ended in unison.

Blinking to them, Sheska scratched her head in dismay and groaned. "Why is it that these things always happen to me?"

"Because it has been your fate from the start, Sheska, according to… the STARS~!" teased Anna in a dramatic voice, chuckling as Sheska frowned.

"Don't think I'm not used to this sort of thing already, Anna. I'm telling you, the stars will tell you more than you think about the ways of this world. They are almost eerily accurate. Say what you want, but I believe that there is some theoretical proof behind astrological study."

The two simply burst out in laughter at her speech and fell over themselves, wiping tears away as Sheska barked at them, yelling at them to stop laughing and that she was being serious.

During all this, back at the library, Edward and Alphonse piled over the mountains of books that lined the shelves in the massive library complex. Most of their time, however, so far, was spent pouring over the basic mythology and alchemic texts in the historical section. They were trying to learn all they could about the theories and elemental differences of this world before they went sticking their noses into things they did not comprehend. They spent the months gathering all the information they could about things on this side of the Gate, and especially took interest when they picked up books about a famous alchemist known as Nicolas Flamel. After reading about his endeavors and finding out that he created the 'Philosopher's Stone' here, they figured that that was how the others knew about it when they had first told the other four about their adventures in their world. After all, the brothers found it especially odd when they didn't seem to ask questions about what the Philosopher's Stone was.

However, they were past that now and digging into deeper matters that concerned the task at hand. Edward narrowed his brow as he read that damned note over and over again, trying to get some sort of sign as to what the meaning of it all could be. Groaning, some papers flew off as his head hit the table. Al also lowered his head in disappointment. Both were at their breaking point, and didn't know how much more research would do them any good. Sure, Sheska had been at them with Spartan determination to find out as much as they could, but both were sure that they had looked through practically every book in the library, and still didn't know the answer to the mystery.

"Brother… I don't think I could pick up another book." Whimpered Alphonse.

"I hear you, Al… I feel the same."

"What do you think we should do? I mean, it's not like we're making progress here. I wonder what happened to everyone else?" Al asked curiously.

Springing from his chair dramatically, Edward buried his head in his hand and groaned loudly. "Isn't it obvious?! They did the smart thing and didn't waste all their time here! I thought it would be easy, a few myths and legends, some metaphorical code cracking…what kind of secret code is this?! Maybe that hack of a professor did this to watch us suffer! Maybe it doesn't even mean anything! Grrrr!"

As Edward was busy throwing a fit, Alphonse chuckled at him, telling him to calm down because they were still in a library as he glanced to another book. "You know brother, I don't think the professor was trying to make this hard for us. If anything, he probably would have helped us with this, if he could. After all, the code isn't exactly a SECRET code if it's easy to crack, right?" he smiled to his brother.

Looking to his younger brother, Edward stopped his tantrum and sighed, falling back into his chair. "Yeah, I guess you're right Al…. but damn, if we could just get one little hint… anything. I'm tired of kicking up dirt!"

Just then, Sheska walked into the library, spotting them beyond their mass of books, and walking over with an annoyed expression. "What is it Sheska?" asked Alphonse.

"Ugh, it's those damn twins. They won't even come within the perimeter of the building! They refuse to help with this when they know it could make a difference… and now Claire has disappeared again… probably to play on that damn piano again."

The three glanced between themselves and sighed simultaneously. "We're really beat up at the edges, aren't we?" moaned Edward as his head hit another book on the table.

"Mhm…" Sheska answered weakly. Taking the brothers by their arms, she began to drag them out while they asked her in a confused tone of surprise. "H-Hey! Where are you taking us, Sheska?" asked Edward.

"We're going to get those twins in here if it kills us!" she exclaimed.

"W-Wha-!" they both gapped at her.

"You heard me…" she said in a controlled voice.

When they got outside, Sheska walked around, looking high and low before spotting the troublesome twosome by the old bridge where they would often meet. Dragging the Elrics with her, she stomped up to them as they blinked to her.

"What is it now?" they asked simultaneously.

"You know exactly what now, you two! Don't play the fool with me!" She yelled at them.

They shrugged, then noticed the extra luggage she was dragging behind her and laughed. "Dear Sheska," said Anna slyly, "did you have to drag those poor boys into this?"

"Yes!" she replied. "They are part of this too!"

"And what about Claire? Isn't she part of this too?" Lukas said, smirking as he glanced to her.

Getting red faced as the twins were scrutinizing her, Sheska huffed and dropped the brothers, crossing her arms. "I was going to get her after I got you two! We need to do this or we'll never get any progress done! Come on!" she finished, picking up the Elrics again and stomping off the other side of the bridge towards Claire's house. The twins followed her as Anna shouted out to her, asking her to slow down.

"One way or another," Sheska told herself, "I am NOT doing this alone. We will do this as a team like we always did." She wore a determined face as she and the others listened to the clacking of their shoes on the stone streets leading to Claire's house.


	10. Chapter 10

As Sheska marched down the street with the brothers Elric in tow, Anna whistled a happy tune, coupled with Lukas to form a duet. To Alphonse, their tune was very catchy and quite the spirit lifter. He grinned to his companions, and tried to mimic their song to form a trio, but he laughed when his lips couldn't pick up the beat quick enough. When his attempt backfired, the twins stopped and laughed along with him as their joined laughter filled the mid-spring's day air. Glancing to the blooming trees around him, Alphonse smiled, a sense of relaxation surrounding him as the brilliant colours of the flowers and the tranquil atmosphere around him reminded him of his home back in Resembool. He wondered if it was spring there as well. The flowers there were so beautiful. Aunt Pinako would be standing on the front porch with Den, smoking her pipe and admiring the colours of Mother Nature. Maybe Winry would be out there with her. He remembered going to play hide and seek and tag over the hills and by the creek near Winry's house when they were kids. Back in those days…

Alphonse sighed, thinking to himself that there was no point looking back when they had to move forward. However, despite the task before him, he could never forget the past, and swore that he never would. Not a day would go by where he didn't think about everyone they had left behind, and, glancing over to the expression on his older brother's face, neither did he. Reaching over to him, Alphonse asked Edward in a small, concerned whisper, "Brother… are you thinking about them too?"

Edward looked over to his brother with a slightly moment of shock, then sighed melancholically. "Yeah Al…" he answered meekly.

Al could only look at his brother with pity, not only for him, but also for the fact that they were both in such a state of remorse over what they had lost. What they had lost… "Hey brother…" began Alphonse.

Edward looked back to him and asked, "Yes?"

Wearing a sad smile, Al chucked once as he finally put I together and looked Edward strait in the eyes to make sure he was going to get every single word of what he was about to say. "Do you think that… maybe, when we went through the Gate… Winry, Aunt Pinako, the military, everyone… do you… do you think THAT… might have been the price we paid? Even for my memories, surly there must have been something that we lost, and even if we have each other… do you think that losing them… was the price we paid for… each other?"

Edward's eye widened when Al spoke to him of this. He thought about what his brother said and took it to heart. After all, even after Al had come through the Gate with all his memories intact and they could finally be reunited again after all those years… they were still… not home. Lowering his head so that his bangs covered his face, Edward smiled sadly and looked back up to his brother. "Equivalent Exchange, huh?" he whispered wistfully.

Suddenly, as the brothers were caught in their memories and yearnings of home, a clear sound passed into their ears and made them look up. It sounded like…

"A piano?" Alphonse asked quizzically.

"Yeah, I hear it too." Edward commented as they both tried to listen to the tune.

They were distracted, however, when they heard a loud cackle behind them. They turned around to see Anna laughing at them, her hand beside her cheek in a sly manner. Lukas was chuckling too. They looked to each other, wondering if they missed some sort of joke, then back to Anna as she gleamed at them. "That's right…" she said, her voice laced in a crafty tone, "you've never been to Claire's house before, right?"

They both shook their heads and Anna laughed again before noticing that the piano sound was getting closer and closer. Suddenly, a wrong note stopped it. There was a pause before it started again at the beginning. As the fray glanced up to the house, they walked to the front door as the brothers realized the piano playing was coming from inside the house.

"Well, we're here!" said Sheska, still annoyed from her onslaught at the bridge.

"Careful of the little one~" Anna cooed in the Elrics' ears, making their hairs stand on end. Looking back at her with suspicious expressions, Edward whispered to her. "What is wrong with you?! Don't do that!"

Sheska knocked at the door twice as Anna and Lukas laughed at them. Then, everything got quiet when they heard the piano stop after another sour note and then the sound of voices. The Elrics couldn't make out any words, it simply sounded like blubbering gibberish to them. Perhaps a different language? They sounded like they were arguing. One was Claire's voice, definitely, but the other… they didn't know whose it was. It sounded a little meek, but a male's voice. A little boy? Suddenly, the clatter of footsteps running closer to the door as the piano started again, then, the door unhinged and opened. Edward and Alphonse were prepared to greet their friend when, instead of seeing a feminine face covered in reddish-blond curls, they saw the little face of a boy looking shyly up at them with short, light brown hair. They exchanged a confused glance before the little boy spoke. "Q-Qui-êtes-vous? … Vous êtes ici pour ma soeur?(W-Who are you? … You're here for my sister?)"

Silence. Edward and Alphonse could only stare at this little boy, not understanding a word he said to them. What in the world was that just now? Some sort of new dialect or language? If there were a time where the Elric brothers were confused, this would be the prime example. They didn't know what to say because they didn't know what this boy was trying to tell them. They could only stand there with priceless expressions on there face, knowing that there was meaning behind the boy's words, but didn't know what, and felt hopeless for not knowing. Anna suddenly laughed at their predicament, making Edward and Alphonse wince as they heard another sour note, and patted them on the shoulders. "What's wrong, boys? Never heard another language before?"

"Apparently not Anna! What a riot!" chuckled Lukas, who laughed along with his sister.

Sheska hushed them both and nudged at the Elrics to get their attention. "Don't stare you two, you're scaring him."

They nodded to her, but still looked to each other with the same confusion as before. Suddenly, they heard more footsteps as another figure came up behind the boy, and the two brothers, as well as the little boy, beamed a smile when they saw Claire walk up. Thank god, someone they could understand around here. Maybe she knew what this little boy was saying.

"So I see the whole group has arrived. Come to drag me back to the library in chains and glue me to a chair and force me to do more research on that riddle?"

"Hmmm… a tempting idea." answered Sheska, grinning wildly. Claire raised a brow and scoffed.

During this conversation, Edward noticed that the little boy by her side never stopped staring at him and Alphonse the whole time. It made him feel a little awkward as his gold eyes stared into brown. Noticing the tension, Claire twitched, trying to think of how to ease the situation. "S-Sorry about that, h-he… he's just a little shy around strangers."

"Hey, who are you calling strangers?!" barked Edward.

"You obviously." Claire retorted, frowning at his rash behaviour. Looking down to the little boy, she spoke in a soft voice, letting the boy know that he didn't have to be afraid. "C'est correcte Frédéric. Ils ne sont pas méchants. Tu peux leur parler. Au moins, dit-leur ton nom…(It's all right Frederic. They're not mean. You can talk to them. At least, tell them your name.)"

Edward knew that the boy was hesitant, but Claire's presence obviously seemed to reassure him somewhat. Finally, he spoke in a small, mousy tone, "J-je m'appelle Frédéric. (M-my name is Frederic)"

Again, more silence as the duo blinked to the little boy. Claire caught on and laughed, whispering to him, "Peux-tu essayer maintenant en anglais, comme l'on avait pratiqué? (Can you try it now in English, like we practiced?)"

"Mais, Claire-! (But, Claire-!)

"Essai Frédéric, hors il n'y a pas de raison pour moi de t'étudier en premier lieu. (Try Frederic, or there's no reason for me to teach you in the first place.)"

The group was silent as the two argued over the boy's shyness, and neither Edward nor Alphonse knew what they words were being exchanged. Edward figured, for all he knew, that they were saying bad things about them. However, he gathered that, by the way she addressed him; the boy's name was Frederic. Then, Frederic gulped, getting a deep, thoughtful look on his face, as if trying to find the right words to say before turning right to the Elrics and opening his mouth. "M-my… name is… Frederic. I'm… pleased to meet you." He said slow, trying to get all the right accents and intricacy to sound as English as possible.

Suddenly, Sheska gasped and Anna grinned, giving the kid a thumbs up as they cheered for him for getting the words right. "Good job Frederic, you're doing wonderful! You're starting to catch on!"" Sheska cheered.

"Yeah, not bad kid." grinned Anna.

Frederic beamed an open mouth smile to them before cheering and running back in the house, yelling out, "Maman! Maman! (Mommy! Mommy!)"

The others simply grinned as they watched him run off, then Claire turned back to her friends. "Sorry about all that," she began, "but he's been begging me to have you come over. He wanted to meet the famous rocket scientists." She teased as the brothers laughed with embarrassment.

"It's nothing, really." Alphonse said.

"Well, you might as well come in now that you're here. Frederic will never hear the end of it if I just go and disappear with all of you again." Claire sighed as she let them into her house.

As they all wandered in, Edward could hear Claire and Sheska talking about Frederic. "He's improving, I can tell!" bragged Sheska.

"Well, after all the lessons I'm giving him, I would hope he is. He can understand English extremely well, but he just has to get the hang of trying to pronounce it all properly and expand his vocabulary." Commented Claire, speaking to Sheska as if Frederic was her student in school. Edward wondered if he was.

They walked into the living room, glancing around at all the knick-knacks and the pictures. The grandfather clock in the corner of the room struck four o'clock. They spent a couple minutes exploring the room because neither Edward nor Alphonse had ever been to Claire's house before. Claire had to yell at Anna to put down something because either it was fragile or held value. Edward was looking at the books she had piled in the bookshelf before looking over to see a small picture sitting on a coffee table. Walking over, he picked it up and squinted as he observed the two people in the picture. He could tell that, whoever they were, they were very happy. Their smiles showed that. However, neither of them was Claire or Frederic. There was a woman in it, she looked similar to Claire. She had the same long, curly hair, but the hue looked light, so perhaps she was a blonde, and her eyes were close, but she wore a big smile on her face. There was a man in it too, but he didn't know what kind of connection this man had with the woman. Perhaps they were good friends, or even lovers. He had short hair, and by the hue of the picture, it looked like darker hair. If nothing else, the word that Edward kept getting as he stared at the picture was 'happy'.

Just then, he heard a new voice enter the room. "Mon doux, Claire, tu as apporter tous tes amis sans me dire? Je pourrais prépare du thé pour eux. (My my, Claire, you brought over all your friends without telling me? I could make some tea for them.)"

The voice was a very soft, feminine voice. It carried a great presence with it, Edward noted, as he turned around to see Claire flustered as she looked to the small woman who entered the room. The curly blond hair and sweet smile made him realize that this was the same woman in the picture, and as she walked up to him with that same smile, she extended her hand to him, and, with a thick accent, said, "Hello. It is nice to meet you; I am assuming that you are Edward Elric. Claire talks to me about you and your brother quite often. I am Claire's mother, Jacqueline."


	11. Chapter 11

"I'm Claire's mother, Jacqueline." she said in a calm, tender voice. Edward was first taken back by how this woman held herself; standing before him in a humbled, yet proud, posture before he realized he wasn't paying attention to his surroundings. Blinking, he collected himself up and straitened his poise, showing the same level of respect to her as she did to him before accepting her handshake. "A-Ah! It's very nice to meet you, Mrs. Turner. You're right about me being Edward." He laughed, slightly embarrassed by his earlier obliviousness, and motioned over to Alphonse. "And this is my younger brother, Alphonse."

He chuckled as Al also seemed humbled by this woman's presence and timidly held his hand out to her, scratching the back of his neck with a silly grin as she shook it. After her introductions to the two newcomers, Jacqueline turned to greet her daughter's other friends, watching with amusement as Anna excitedly hugged the older woman, gushing over how she had missed her since their last meeting, to which, Jacqueline reminded was only a week before. The elder Elric smiled as he watched them talk, laugh, and enjoy the light of the conversation. With the old picture still grasped in his other hand, he looked back to it, then to the real person and smiled when he saw the same smile from the frame in reality. He wouldn't be able to tell this to Alphonse, but her smile reminded him somewhat of their mother. They both brought the same light to the room when they smiled, and, looking to Claire and Frederic's faces as they shared in the conversation, they seem to think so too. However, besides that, not much else was the same. As he kept analyzing the photo, he saw that something was different about the Jacqueline that stood in front of him than the Jacqueline from the past. Though her smile was let unchanged, physically, she appeared weaker now, almost as if she had been drained of all of her energy. Something that would usually happen from a tragic event from one's past. In fact, glancing into Jacqueline's eyes, even for just a brief moment, he could see emptiness inside, almost as if they were hollow. Placing the picture frame back on the coffee table, he was caught off-guard when Anna suddenly crashed into him in a hug. He whipped his head around to her, glaring as he snapped at her. "What the hell? You could have given me a heart attack!"

She only giggled at him and brushed off his complaints. "Oh, relax Edward. God, you're always so uptight! Come on! Join the party! Have some fun once in your life!"

He sighed irritably, groaning, "No thanks, I think I'll pass. Besides, if it's a party you're in, then I'm sure it's bound to be bordering on the psychotic."

Frowning, Anna gave him a good whack across the back of the head, getting a loud, "Ow!" from the elder brother. This caused them to start bickering for some time, until they noticed that they didn't hear anything else in the room. The two older siblings glanced around to see everyone staring at them and blinked before blushing in embarrassment, both trying to laugh it off as a joke. However, they stopped their awkward flustering when they heard a small chuckle and looked to see Jacqueline giggling into her hand at their argument. This caused Claire to start laughing as well, followed by Alphonse, Sheska and Lukas until the whole room broke the odd silence with a chorus of laughter.

Then, Alphonse stopped as his eye caught the source of the music that they had heard earlier from outside. Walking over to the small wooden piano, he glanced over the polished keys and well kept brown wood before picking up the music sheets on the headpiece. He read over the notes, not understanding what they represented, after all, he had never taken up practice with a musical instrument, nor was he ever shown how. He read the title of the piece at the top, trying to pronounce it as best he could. This was probably the same language that Claire and her family were speaking earlier, because it sure sounded like it. "Grande Va..Val..Valse Brill..Brilliant? Grande Valse Brilliant? Is this the piece that you were playing earlier, Claire?"

"Alphonse! Don't go riffling through those!" she panicked, rushing over to him and snatching the papers from his hands. However, she didn't have them for long before Lukas grabbed them from her grip and dangled them above her head teasingly, taking advantage of the fact that he was taller than she. Then, Anna took the papers from him, laughing mockingly at Claire as she fumed over their silly games of keep away. "Don't tell me you're still playing those things Claire? I thought that you would've grown out of Chopin by now!" Anna said with a hint of smugness.

"Of course I still play them, and don't mock me! I still think Chopin's music is amazing! He was considered to be one of the great masters of Romantic music!" Claire defended.

"Please, we are NOT getting into this again." Sheska groaned, rubbing her temples with her index and middle fingers.

"It doesn't matter what he was, the point is that he's so old-fashioned! I thought you would have at least tried to move on with something more modern. You should try something else." Anna argued to her smaller friend, throwing the papers around.

"Sister…" Lukas said hesitantly, starting to get a little nervous and not wanting this argument to escalate much further. Anna had a bad habit of making all the fights she got into grow vicious. He could also see the faces of the others starting to feel uneasy around him over this feud.

"It shouldn't matter what you think about my taste in music because it's my opinion and my sheets!" Claire yelled back, grabbing the sheets back from her, and beginning to make the fight grow even bigger.

"Me, me me! Listen to you! You think you would at least learn to accept the opinions of the people around you, especially if they're you're friends! Grow up a little, would you?!" Anna barked back, glaring right in Claire's face.

"Well, at least I can accept that people have different opinions! Try toning down your senseless feeling of self-importance!" Claire snapped, glaring back at her.

"Stupid bitch!!" they shouted in unison before gasping.

The room fell completely silent as the two stared at each other, unable to believe that they had just spoken the words that came out of their mouths. Everyone around them was also just as shocked as they were. Jacqueline was covering Federic's ears with her hands, completely in shock at what her normal sweet, kind daughter had said. Sheska stared between the two of them as Lukas gapped at his sister. The Elrics looked in shock at one another, not knowing what they should do.

Finally, Anna lowered her head and ran out of the room, heading for the front door. Lukas was quick to pursue her, shouting back to her, "A-Anna!"

Sheska was about to follow Anna, but glanced back to Claire with a worried expression. She stood there for a minute before Claire, her head lowered so her thick orange curls concealed her eyes, whispered a small, "Go…"

Sheska simply nodded to her, giving her one more sympathetic look before running out after the twins. After she was gone, Claire turned and whispered a small apology to her mother and brother before racing out towards the back door.

Alphonse watched her run out, ready to go after her and stop her, calling out to her. "C…Claire!" However, Edward caught his shoulder before he could run after. Looking back at his older sibling, Alphonse saw Edward sigh and give Al a look of understanding. "Brother?"

"Don't worry Alphonse. They both need a moment right now. If it'll make you feel better, I'll go get Claire. You go take care of Anna. I'm sure Lukas and Sheska will need your help to calm her down." He finished with a small smile as Alphonse nodded his agreement and took off after Sheska and the twins. Turning to Jacqueline, he bowed slightly, saying in an apologetic tone, "I'm so sorry for all of this, Mrs. Turner. I can't help but feel partly responsible for this, after all, something like this hadn't happened until my brother and I arrived."

There was only silence before Edward felt a hand on his shoulder and gasped, straitening up to look into Jacqueline's deep blue eyes. She smiled to him and spoke with all the tenderness she could give him. "Edward, this wasn't your fault. This was bound to happen at some point. They could never stop fighting over silly things like this. Although I'm not exactly proud of my foolish daughter for her disrespectful behaviour, please Edward, don't you and Alphonse think for a moment that you two are at fault." She ended with a serene smile.

Edward was speechless for a moment before smiling to her and nodding to her. "Thank you Mrs. Turner. I'll keep that in mind…"

As Alphonse finally caught up with the others, he stopped when he saw Lukas and Sheska next to Anna, letting her rid herself of her rage by repeatedly punching the side of the house. Sighing, he walked up to the group, turning his head to Sheska. "How is she?" he asked.

"She's a little angry, but she's just fine." Sheska replied, sighing.

"That was quite a scene you two pulled in there, Sister. I'm surprised the neighbours didn't come over to investigate what was happening." Lukas said, trying to approach his sister without getting in the way of her wrath.

"I know…I know!" Anna shouted back, stopping her ruthless punches and burying her head in her hands, growling in frustration. The scene dove into a pregnant silence as everyone allowed Anna a moment to calm down. She turned, letting her back hit the side of the house as she glanced up, placing her palm on her forehead. She sighed heavily before wondering aloud, "What have I done?"

Letting himself relax, knowing that she was no longer frustrated, Alphonse approached Anna with a smile. "You know, you can still fix this."

"He's right," began Lukas, "You can still go and apologize to her. After all, it wasn't really your place to tell her what she should play, despite your best intentions." Lukas finished calmly, patting his older sister on the back. Sheska nodded her agreement as Anna looked up and smiled to her.

"Yes… I suppose you're all right.. I should go." Anna sighed.

"She went out the back door." Alphonse said, a little more cheerful as he gestured with his thumb to the front door. Smiling to him, Anna said a small thanks to Alphonse before going through the door. As she walked into the living room, she didn't see where Jacqueline and Frederic had gone. She followed the hall down to the back door, hesitating before she got the chance to turn the knob. She could hear Edward and Claire's voices drifting in from outside, and eavesdropped on them without realizing it.

"Edward… can I ask you something?"

"Sure… but, what is it?"

Claire hesitated before nervously asking. "What… what do you think of me..? And of Anna? What do you feel about…us?"


	12. Chapter 12

Letting the door swing open gently, Edward stood for a moment at the frame, watching Claire sigh as she cupped her face in her hands. Closing the door lightly so as not to disturb her train of thought, he stealthily walked over to her, taking a seat at her side. He could tell that she knew he was there, but didn't say anything. As they sat side by side on the cobblestone step, the awkwardness of the situation grew as the two attempted to strike a conversation. Not that there wasn't much to be said, but that neither knew where to start. Fingers fidgeting in her lap, Claire took a deep breath and finally broke the stagnant atmosphere. "Edward…listening, I…I'm so sorry for what happened back there."

Turning to her when she spoke up, Edward replied, "Don't worry about it…besides… I don't really think I should be the one you apologize to…"

Letting the words sink in, she stared strait into his gold eyes before lowering her head and nodding. "Yes…yes I know…" sighing, she continued, "What a wretch I am… I can hardly believe my own words…what I said to her."

Advancing to her, Edward retaliated against her words with an aggressive tone. "Hey, you can't go beating yourself up over it! Besides, you know Anna better than I, and even I know she will forgive you. For sure!"

Jumping at his advancement, she regained her former calmness after he was finished his rebuttal. Thinking about what he said, she sighed again, showing him a small smile and nodding her agreement. "Yes," she replied, "I hope she will. She is so important to me, and to the rest of us. I would be devastated if she hated me."

"There you go again! Stop thinking so pessimistically, will you?" Edward nagged back to her.

Taken back by his choice of words, she put on a small frown and turned away, grumbling, "Fine, fine, I'm sorry-"

"And stop apologizing already!" he interrupted. "You don't have anything to be sorry about. Really. You two will work it out, so stop worrying over every little thing." Edward groaned and gave her an irritated glance while holding his face in his palm.

Blinking at his sudden outburst, she returned the irritated glare and crossed her arms. "Alright already! I get it! I'll stop! Honestly…"

"Well, that's what you get for always looking at things from a negative point of view." he smugly answered.

Jumping at his last words, she barked back, "Hey! I don't ALWAYS look at things negatively!"

He laughed lightly and shook his head, accepting her compromise. "Alright, maybe not ALWAYS… but it's still there." he pointed out.

Getting an annoyed grin on her lips, she spoke between gritting teeth, "Did you come out here to talk about the argument and Anna, or did you just want to point out the flaws in my personality?"

"A little of both." he grinned to her, seeing the irritation rise in her expression.

Knowing that he was only trying to get a rise out of her, she let out a small, "tch", and turned away, looking out towards her backyard. The silence returned, however, it was much more comfortable and peaceful than before. The two looked out in silence, admiring the scenery as their own thoughts controlled their minds as sleep did during the night. They were caught in the magnificence of Spring's air, feeling the light fragrance of various flowers tickle their noses and tranquil sunlight giving relief from a past cold winter's chill. Closing their eyes, they smelt all the scents buzzing around them. From where they sat, they could smell the freshly prepared meal that Jacqueline was busily cooking in the kitchen. The sweet twitter of birds rang out in their ears in song as Claire tried to identify individual tunes, placing the song with the bird in her head. A breeze picked up, and Edward reached out to catch a blossom that had been wrenched from its tree by the merciless wind. Sighing, he was the one to break the silence this time. "It's been so long since I've been able to relax and be at peace, I've almost forgotten what it feels like… to stop for a minute and appreciate the things around you. These days are full of so much running around and stressful business… It's nice to let it all go, even for a few minutes."

Opening her eyes, Claire answered in a soft, calmed voice. "Yes… it is. Things aren't always going to be this way, so I guess we might as well enjoy them, while we can."

It was silent for a few more seconds before Claire sighed and turned her attention to her friend. "Edward… can I ask you something?"

Opening his eyes to look at her, folding his hands behind his head, he blinked and replied, "Sure… but what is it?"

She hesitated for a moment, not wanting to word her next question incorrectly. Biting her bottom lip, she asked nervously, "What… what do you think of me? …And of Anna? What do you feel about…us?"

Blinking before giving her a slightly shocked look, his hands fell from his head, and his cheeks grew a pinkish tinge with embarrassment at her sudden question. "Well…what do you mean by that?" he asked back.

"W-Well! Just… what do you think about us? Do you think Anna and I are a bother with all our fighting? Do you think we are all a bunch of weird children? I mean, I think we all have a pretty good friendship with you and Alphonse, but are you sure we're not a burden to your mission? After all, we sort of conscripted ourselves to helping you with this without you even giving us permission. I just really hope we can help you two in any way we can…"

Listening to her intently, he waited for her to finish, gave her a blank look, and chuckled before returning his hands to the back of his head. Feeling that he wasn't taking her seriously, she frowned, yelling to him, "Hey! Are you listening? I'm not joking! Just answer the question!"

He turned his gaze to her for a moment before looking away again, chuckling again. Just as she was grating her teeth, about ready to blow a gasket, he came out with a simple, "So that was what you were worried about this whole time? Man, you're not as smart as I thought you were."

"Hey!!" she barked back, getting angrier by the second.

His face becoming a little more serious, he turned to her, looking her directly in the eyes, making her rage simmer down as she was caught in his intense gaze. He sighed, scratching the top of his head and speaking in a chiding tone. "Honestly, what makes you think you're not helping us? Of course you are! The six of us have spent these last few months together, doing everything we could to get clues on this bomb and you're going to start telling me now, after all this time, that you don't feel like you're helping us?! You're hopeless."

"Hey, it was just a question, okay? I was worried and didn't know if I was doing my part in helping with this mission, and wanted to know if I was only being a burden on you." she grumbled, crossing her arms again.

He raised a brow at her statement and laughed, eyeing her with a teasing expression. "And what did I say about you worrying over every little thing?"

She sighed, replying, "That I shouldn't do it. I know, I know, I'm so paranoid. Spare me. You only tell me every other day." throwing her words out sarcastically.

Smiling, he glanced back out to the backyard, hiding an essence of remembrance in his tone as he spoke. "It's alright… I remember an old friend who was the same way about my brother and I." smirking with pride at the thought of his wrench-towing childhood friend.

"A childhood friend of yours? You mean, from your world?" Claire asked, blinking with curiosity.

He nodded to her, still wearing that same proud smile. "Yes, she was a girl who grew up with us in our village. She was actually the one who fashioned this arm and my leg too." he beamed, taking off his right glove and showing off the automail, holding his arm up so that it would hit the sunlight.

Awed for a moment by his strange metal arm, to which the whole group was still trying to get used to, having never seen metallic limbs before, she became genuinely curious by the identity of this childhood friend. "I see, she sounds like a very nice person. Please, could you tell me more? What was she like?"

Bringing his arm down and putting the glove back on, he looked to Claire and smiled, feeling a peace of mind at the fact that she was truly interested in hearing about Winry. "Well, she is a really nice girl, and a brilliant engineer, but that wrench of hers became a deadly tool when she was angry." He stopped for a moment, only to let Claire laugh at that last part before continuing. "But when she smiled, it gave you the feeling that everything was right as it should be, that everything was well. She is not only a good childhood friend; she was like a sister to us. The only real best friend Al and I ever had. We played together almost every day as kids. Coming here… I know was as hard on her as it was on us. If I had the chance, I would go back and bring her here to meet you all. I'm sure she'd love all of you."

"And I'm sure I would have loved her as well," Claire said gently, seeing him twitch as he spoke about her. She must have truly meant a great deal to him if he was getting so emotional about it. Perhaps, she thought, at one point, he even loved her. "I really wish I would have gotten the chance to meet her."

Looking to her with the emotions of his regrets building inside him, he sighed, lowering his head. "It doesn't matter anyway. If I know Winry, she'll be just fine. She has a whole-new, bright future ahead of her, and she knows how to find her way on her own path." Edward exclaimed, pushing aside his grievances and replacing them with an air of confidence.

She smiled to him, as they stayed silent for a few moments, allowing him to catch up with the threads of his past. When he finally snapped out of it, he suddenly turned to her, and, with a renewed feeling of vitality, said, "Well, since you're the one who keeps asking all the questions, I think it's only fair that I get to asked you something too!" he exclaimed.

Blinking at his forwardness, she laughed nervously and asked in an edgy voice, "Really? Umm.. Alright then, go ahead."

He grinned to her, thinking of what to ask, then getting the perfect question. "I know! That picture on your coffee table in the living room, I know one of them is your mom, but who's the other one?... is it your dad?"

She giggled, clapping lightly to reward his intuitive skills. "Very good. Yes, he was my father."

"Was?" Edward asked curiously.

"Yes, was." Claire replied. "You see, he's gone."

"Well, yes, I see he's not here, but… can't he at least keep in contact with his family?" Edward said with a hint of anger in his voice, remembering what his own father had put him, his brother and his mother through and still seething at the thought.

"No, he can't" she stated simply.

"Why not?"

"Because," she replied indifferently, "he's dead."


	13. Chapter 13

He seemed slightly taken aback by her words at first; however, they seem to sink in slowly as a melancholic sigh escaped his lips. He turned to her, a look of grim understanding dancing in his eyes. "I see… I'm sorry to hear that. I didn't think…"

Catching him in mid-sentence with a scoff, she almost chuckled to him, taking him by surprise as she continued his apology to explain, "Please, the time for that sort of talk passed a long time ago. It's been years, and we've come to accept what has happened…"

"What?! What are you talking about? You're just going to forget it, like it never happened? That was your father!" he lashed out, half shocked, half confused.

She waited until he had finished before turning away to look out in the garden. "That's not it…" she whispered softly. She took her time, turning back to face him with an air of strength in her expression that made Edward sit still as he listened to her speak. "Yes, he was my father, yes, I do love him still, however… you don't know the real story… besides, did you not once tell us that your father had left? Surely there must be something behind that, something more than just the fact that he was gone! " She took on the offensive, cornering him before he had the chance to react.

His expression turned sharp as he glared to her, feeling the sting of the memories that his father brought about. She was starting to cross boundaries he was not prepared to face. Taking a harsh defensive against her, he quickly retorted, "That's not something you need to know! My father has nothing to do with yours! You… you would never understand. My father left us, but…but…" he sighed and turned away, taking a moment to calm his nerves before facing her again. "It's complicated. You wouldn't understand…"

She blinked in confusion, not comprehending how she would not be able to understand him since both of their fathers had left their houses when they were young. "W-Wha-? H-How could I not…?"

"You just wouldn't! Stop thinking you have all the answers!" he snapped back.

Claire immediately backed off. She now realized that she was starting to pry. He was not comfortable to answers the questions she asked, and now, as he glared with the ferocity of Hell's Wrath, she regretted pushing him so much. She only wanted to help but maybe… maybe she could help now by not making the reminiscence so painful by dwelling on it.

They regained their previous silence, the awkwardness levels rising exponentially as the minutes dragged on, neither party knowing what to say to the other. A small sigh from his lips broke the tension as she turned to him. Still looking away, he spoke delicately, out of respect; "My father… I hated him for what he did to us. He left when I was only a little kid, but I still remember it as if it was only yesterday. All those years, I told myself I hated him… for what my mother had to go through. I had no idea… when I saw him again, he told me everything. Now… now, I'm… not sure I could hate him for all those years he was gone. I guess I've come to accept his circumstances, but… but still… I still can't completely let it go… I guess…"

She listened intently, catching every detail, every pitch in his speech. She was surprised how deep he could be from his usual childish nature. A soul whose pain and longing were one in the same. His father could not give it to him. He had to endure all those years, much longer than her. She blinked, not pitying him, but rather understanding, or, at least, trying. She followed his gaze out into the flora and watched a pair of robins twitter and frolic before passing by on the wind's breath. Abruptly, she too, began to speak; "My father was a soldier… he was a great man. He loved to read and play cards. My mother would tell me stories of how they met, what they did, and what kind of man he was. He was just a simple man, like other men, just trying to live his life out with his family, or so she would say. She held such high regards for him. Then the War came…" she turned to him, "of course you know of that, right?" He nodded and motioned for her to keep going, if she wished. "Well," she continued, "when it came, my father was overcome for feelings of his country. Not of this one, but of his home country. It's a place called England… he persisted in going to war for the sake of his country, as a man who loved his country like other men, but my mother was opposed. She wanted him to stay, to watch us, and watch her. She hoped he would live contently in a utopian world where there was only the four of us. But… that's not how he saw things. My brother and I weren't opposed to him going. If that's where he felt like he belonged, he should go. I was nine when he left. We waited for him, but… after some time, we got the hint. We didn't regret him going though… we felt that it was choice. But my mother couldn't take it, life without him. She broke…" she stopped suddenly and gasped, clasping a hand over her mouth. With wide eyes, she looked over to Edward, who stared back, confused by her actions. She sighed, waving it off. "Never mind Edward… I've said too much." He quietly understood and didn't press further. She giggled, catching him off-guard, and then looked into his eyes with a sort of half smile. "I know I've told you already, but you're very easy to talk to Edward."

He blinked, then smiled back, exclaiming excitedly, "Thanks!"

The two slipped back into silence, this one lasting for a few minutes before Edward stood up, brushing off his coat and turning to her with a crooked smile. "Well, I should be getting back in. Al will wonder what I've been doing… you know… you should really fix things up with Anna. It would be stupid not to. She's one of your best friends…"

She smiled to him and nodded. "Yes… I will. I want to. I just hope… she'll forgive me. I was… a little out of line, to say the least." She laughed nervously, making him laugh.

He turned to the door, waving to her before walking away. As he approached the door, he looked up and noticed the tall, feminine figure in the doorway and closed his eyes, smiling. So, she had been there the whole time? Probably. It wasn't like it really mattered to him. It was all up to those two girls now. As he entered the door and passed by, she asked him, almost with aggression, "So, what were you two talking about for so long?" He simply chuckled back to her and answered with a smug expression, "You should already know…" and left, vaguely watching as she hesitantly exited the back door to approach the other girl sitting outside.

Reflecting on what Claire had told him, he remembered how his mother would watch the soldiers as they passed by coming home from Ishbal. He also thought of Anna's forceful question and chuckled to himself. So much like her, like his old childhood friend that he had grown fond of for so many years… guess no matter where he was, she would never really leave him. That thought brought some warmth to his heart as he entered the living room, as he pondered how he was still connected to his home, even if not physically. He could sense it in Al's eyes too. No matter how far, their friends would still be with them, their old ones, and their new ones. But they had a job to do first.

"So how did things go with you guys?" he asked as he joined the others in the living room.


End file.
